National Renewal (Chile)

Early years

Renovación Nacional was founded on 29 April 1987, when three right-leaning organisations – the Movimiento de Unión Nacional (MUN), the Frente Nacional del Trabajo (FNT) and parts of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) – merged ahead of the 1988 Chilean presidential referendum that would determine whether Augusto Pinochet would continue in office.

Shortly thereafter, the UDI split away again due to its strong support for Pinochet, while RN advocated a broader democratic opening. However, when Pinochet was officially nominated as a candidate, the majority of the new party ultimately supported him.

With 351 founding members, RN became the first political party to be officially registered following the lifting of the ban on political parties in place since the 1973 military coup.

Under the leadership of Andrés Allamand, membership increased rapidly and the party played an active role in the transition to democracy. In the 1999 presidential election, it supported the right-wing alliance's joint candidate, Joaquín Lavín, who narrowly lost the runoff to Ricardo Lagos.

21st century

In the 2000s, RN again put forward Lavín, but after his polling numbers declined, Sebastián Piñera assumed the candidacy. In the 2006 presidential election he narrowly lost to Michelle Bachelet, but won the 2010 election, becoming the first centre-right president since the return to democracy. The party simultaneously gained significant ground in Congress and became one of the most influential political forces in Chile.

Following the 2013 election defeat and internal tensions, several deputies split off to form the movement Amplitud. Under the leadership of Cristián Monckeberg, RN modernised its public image, adopting a new logo in 2014 and a revised statement of principles distancing itself from the Pinochet era. In 2015, RN helped establish the new centre-right coalition Chile Vamos alongside the UDI, Evópoli and the PRI.

During Piñera's second administration (2018–2022), RN held numerous government positions.

2020s

The Social Outburst of 2019–2020 triggered internal tensions: a moderate faction led by Mario Desbordes supported the constitutional process, while a conservative wing associated with Carlos Larraín opposed it.^[29][30]

After a closely contested internal power struggle, Francisco Chahuán, the joint opposition candidate against Desbordes, was elected party president in 2021 and led RN until 2023.^[31] His term, however, was marked by fragile control and pronounced internal fragmentation, illustrated by conservative factions supporting José Antonio Kast rather than the official candidate Sebastián Sichel in the 2021 presidential election.^[32][33]

In 2022, RN succeeded in re-establishing internal cohesion by unanimously deciding to reject the draft constitution promoted by left-wing, pro-Social Outburst activists.^[34][35] Even Desbordes, who had previously expressed sympathy for peaceful demonstrations, opposed the proposal.^[36]

In the referendum on the draft constitution, the "Reject" option won with 62% of the vote.^[34] RN and its coalition partners – UDI and Evópoli – gained two new allies: the movement Amarillos por Chile, from which the party Democrats later emerged.^[37] Both groups brought together former members of the Concertación willing to collaborate with the centre-right; both later endorsed Evelyn Matthei in the 2025 presidential election.^[38][39]

In 2023, Chahuán was succeeded by Rodrigo Galilea,^[40] a lawyer with a reserved public profile who strengthened RN's standing by making the party the most-voted force in the 2024 municipal and regional elections.

Presidential elections

The following is a list of the presidential candidates supported by the National Renewal. (Information gathered from the Archive of Chilean Elections).

Congress election