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Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)

March 01, 2024

For other uses, see Union of the Democratic Centre.

The Union of the Democratic Centre (Spanish: Unión de Centro Democrático, UCD, also translated as "Democratic Centre Union") was an electoral alliance, and later political party, in Spain, existing from 1977 to 1983. It was initially led by Adolfo Suárez.

Union of the Democratic Centre
Unión de Centro Democrático
AbbreviationUCD
PresidentAdolfo Suárez
Founded3 May 1977 (1977-05-03) (alliance)
7 August 1977 (1977-08-07) (party)
Dissolved18 February 1983 (1983-02-18)[1][2]
Succeeded byDemocratic and Social Centre
IdeologyConstitutional monarchism[3]
Christian democracy[4][5]
Liberalism[4][5]
Reformism[6]
Factions:
Liberal conservatism[7][8]
Social democracy[4][5]
Political positionCentre[4] to
centre-right[3][9][10]
European affiliationEuropean Democrat Union (observer)[5]
Colours   Orange, Green

History edit

The coalition, in fact a federation of parties, was formed on 3 May 1977, during the transition to democracy from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, with the involvement of leaders from a variety of newly formed centrist and rightist factions, under the leadership of Suárez, then Prime Minister. The principal components of the UCD defined themselves as Christian democrats, liberals, social democrats, or "independents", the latter frequently comprising conservative elements which had been part of the Franco regime.

The parties that made the UCD coalition were:

Some months later, all these parties were merged and UCD constituted itself as a party on 4 August 1977.

The UCD governed Spain until December 1982. In the elections of 15 June 1977, the party took 34.4% of the vote and 166 seats of the 350 in the Congress of Deputies. The party governed as a minority and worked with all major parties in the Congress, including the rightist People's Alliance and the parties of the left, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Communists (PCE). Suárez became the first democratically chosen prime minister of Spain after the Franco period. The UCD played a major role in writing the new constitution, as three of the seven members of the constitutional drafting commission, established after those elections, came from the party. In March 1979 the UCD again won the general election but could not attain a majority, with 34.8% of the vote and 168 deputies.

Demise edit

The demise of the UCD began when in 1979 the Socialist Party moderated its outlook by dropping the references to Marxism from its programme. At the same time, the right-wing People's Alliance increasingly oriented to the political centre and, by undergoing a generation change, could overcome its Francoist image. Thus, the space for the centrist UCD shrank.[12] Despite this, the UCD was returned for a second term in 1979, with a slight increase in vote share.

Internal divisions edit

The fundamental reason for the party's disappearance was internal conflict between its diverse factions, which led to the resignation of Suárez as prime minister in January 1981. Suárez was replaced by Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo for the remainder of the term of the Cortes. Many believe that the only factor that had kept the party together was the writing of the constitution. With that work done, the party became increasingly unpopular due to the growth of unemployment, inflation and the general economic crisis affecting the country.

Splits and defections 1980–1982 edit

During the course of the 1979–1982 legislature the party suffered a number of serious splits and defections. On 7 March 1980, Joaquim Molins resigned from the UCD group and later joined the Catalan Nationalist Convergence and Union. On 25 April 1980, Manuel Clavero resigned from the party in disputes over the statute of autonomy for Andalusia. Two months later, José García Pérez resigned over the same issue. García joined the Andalusian Socialist Party on 1 September 1981.

On 10 November 1981 Manuel Díaz-Piniés resigned from the party and 1 February 1982 he, together with three other deputies Miguel Herrero de Miñón, Ricardo de la Cierva and Francisco Soler Valero joined the Popular Alliance (AP). The first of a number of breakaway parties emerged three days later on 4 February 1982 when 10 UCD deputies from the left of the party - Francisco Fernández Ordóñez, Antonio Alfonso Quirós, Luis Berenguer, Carmela García Moreno, Ciriaco Díaz Porras, Luis González Seara, Eduardo Moreno, Javier Moscoso, María Dolores Pelayo and Carmen Solano formed the Democratic Action Party (Partido de Acción Democrática/PAD). This group stood as part of the PSOE list in the 1982 election and merged with the PSOE in January 1983.

In Summer 1982 the party splintered further. Two deputies Modesto Fraile and Carlos Gila quit the party and in August they along with 11 other UCD deputies (Óscar Alzaga, Mariano Alierta, Joaquín Galant, Julen Guimon, María Josefa Lafuente, José Luis Moreno, Francisco Olivencia, José Manuel Otero, José Pin Arboledas, José Luis Ruiz Navarro and Luis Vega) formed the People's Democratic Party (PDP). This party allied itself with the AP for the 1982 election.

Also in August, 16 deputies, headed by the former leader and Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez formed the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS).[13] Among the founding members were deputies such as Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún, Jaume Barnola, León Buil, Rafael Calvo Ortega, José María Mesa, Josep Pujadas, José Javier Rodríguez Alcaide and Manuel de Sàrraga and Alejandro Rebollo Álvarez-Amandi. The CDS fought the 1982 election in direct competition with the UCD.

Although the UCD had been joined by José María de Areilza and Antoni de Senillosa, who had defected from the AP, the UCD party group had now been reduced to 124 deputies - 52 short of a majority. The PSOE at this point had 118 deputies and could also count on the support of the 10 deputies of the PAD and the 21 members of the Communist Party. In light of this new situation in Parliament, Calvo Sotelo called fresh elections.

1982 election and disbanding edit

Following the attempted coup of 1981, the socialists convincingly won the 1982 general election. The UCD, presenting Landelino Lavilla Alsina as its candidate for prime minister, was nearly wiped out, taking only 6.7% of the vote and 11 seats, losing over 100 of their sitting deputies—one of the worst defeats ever suffered by a western European governing party. The CDS also fared poorly, with only two of its sixteen sitting deputies winning seats.

Most of the UCD's electorate became supporters of the AP-PDP alliance, which later became the People's Party, today Spain's principal conservative party. The AP-PDP displaced the UCD as the main alternative to the PSOE.

Many ex-ministers and leaders of the UCD also joined the AP ranks. Subsequently, the UCD was disbanded on 18 February 1983.

Electoral performance edit

Cortes Generales edit

Cortes Generales
Election Congress Senate Leading candidate Status in legislature
Votes % # Seats +/– Seats +/–
1977 6,310,391 34.44% 1st
165 / 350
 —
106 / 207
 — Adolfo Suárez Minority
1979 6,268,593 34.84% 1st
168 / 350
  3
118 / 208
  12 Adolfo Suárez Minority
1982 1,425,093 6.77% 3rd
12 / 350
  156
4 / 208
  114 Landelino Lavilla Opposition

Regional parliaments edit

Region Election Votes % # Seats Status in legislature
Andalusia 1982 371,154 13.03% 3rd
15 / 109
 Opposition
Basque Country 1980 78,095 8.49% 5th
6 / 60
 Opposition
Catalonia 1980 Within CC–UCD
18 / 135
 Confidence and supply
Galicia 1981 274,191 27.80% 2nd
24 / 71
 Confidence and supply
Navarre 1979 68,040 26.69% 1st
20 / 70
 Mandatory coalition

Literature edit

  • Hopkin, Jonathan (1999), Party Formation and Democratic Transition in Spain: The Creation and Collapse of the Union of the Democratic Centre, Macmillan Press, ISBN 0312219121

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "La crisis de UCD culmina con la decisión de disolverse como partido político". El País (in Spanish). 19 February 1983. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Exito y fracaso sin precedentes en la historia de las democracias". El País (in Spanish). 19 February 1983. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b Bozóki, András; Lomax, Bill (1996), "The revenge of history: The Portuguese, Spanish and Hungarian transitions — some comparisons", Stabilising Fragile Democracies: Comparing new party systems in Southern and Eastern Europe, Routledge, p. 197
  4. ^ a b c d Story, Jonathan (1995), "Spain's external relations redefined: 1975–1989", Democratic Spain: Reshaping External Relations in a Changing World, Routledge, p. 33
  5. ^ a b c d Steed, Michael; Humphreys, Peter (1988), "Identifying liberal parties", Liberal Parties in Western Europe, Cambridge University Press, pp. 425–426
  6. ^ Matuschek, Peter (2004), "Who Learns from Whom?: The Failure of Spanish Christian Democracy and the Success of the Partido Popular", Christian Democratic Parties in Europe since the End of the Cold War, Leuven University Press, p. 244
  7. ^ Helfert, Rolf (2020), "20. Rückkehr zur Demokratie und die neue Demokratie", Die Geschichte Mallorcas: Ein Blick auf 10 000 bewegte Jahre, Books on Demand, ISBN 9783751934565
  8. ^ Schäfer, Thilo (5 June 2020), "Wie sich Spaniens Regierung an einem Nato-Gipfel abarbeitet", Mallorca Zeitung
  9. ^ Encarnación, Omar G. (2008), Spanish Politics, Polity Press, p. 55
  10. ^ Montero, José Ramón (1999), "Stabilising the Democratic Order: Electoral Behaviour in Spain", Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain, Frank Cass, pp. 62–63
  11. ^ Ministerio del Interior de España. "Partidos políticos que integraron "Unión de Centro Democrático"" (in Spanish). Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  12. ^ Haas, Melanie (2006), "Das Parteiensystem Spaniens", Die Parteiensysteme Westeuropas, VS Verlag, p. 433
  13. ^ Haas, Melanie (2006), "Das Parteiensystem Spaniens", Die Parteiensysteme Westeuropas, VS Verlag, p. 436

March 01, 2024
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For other uses see Union of the Democratic Centre You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish January 2020 Click show for important translation instructions View a machine translated version of the Spanish article Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the English Wikipedia Consider adding a topic to this template there are already 5 254 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality If possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at es Union de Centro Democratico see its history for attribution You should also add the template Translated es Union de Centro Democratico to the talk page For more guidance see Wikipedia Translation This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Union of the Democratic Centre Spain news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Union of the Democratic Centre Spanish Union de Centro Democratico UCD also translated as Democratic Centre Union was an electoral alliance and later political party in Spain existing from 1977 to 1983 It was initially led by Adolfo Suarez Union of the Democratic Centre Union de Centro DemocraticoAbbreviationUCDPresidentAdolfo SuarezFounded3 May 1977 1977 05 03 alliance 7 August 1977 1977 08 07 party Dissolved18 February 1983 1983 02 18 1 2 Succeeded byDemocratic and Social CentreIdeologyConstitutional monarchism 3 Christian democracy 4 5 Liberalism 4 5 Reformism 6 Factions Liberal conservatism 7 8 Social democracy 4 5 Political positionCentre 4 tocentre right 3 9 10 European affiliationEuropean Democrat Union observer 5 Colours Orange GreenPolitics of SpainPolitical partiesElections Contents 1 History 1 1 Demise 1 2 Internal divisions 1 3 Splits and defections 1980 1982 1 4 1982 election and disbanding 2 Electoral performance 2 1 Cortes Generales 2 2 Regional parliaments 3 Literature 4 See also 5 ReferencesHistory editThe coalition in fact a federation of parties was formed on 3 May 1977 during the transition to democracy from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco with the involvement of leaders from a variety of newly formed centrist and rightist factions under the leadership of Suarez then Prime Minister The principal components of the UCD defined themselves as Christian democrats liberals social democrats or independents the latter frequently comprising conservative elements which had been part of the Franco regime The parties that made the UCD coalition were Christian democrats Christian Democratic Party PDC of Fernando Alvarez de Miranda and Inigo Cavero Social democrats Social Democratic Federation FSD of Jose Ramon Lasuen Sancho It comprised ten regional parties Social Democratic Party PSD of Francisco Fernandez Ordonez and Rafael Arias Salgado It comprised six regional parties Independent Social Democratic Party PSI of Gonzalo Casado Spanish Social Democratic Union USDE of Eurico de la Pena Governmentalists People s Party PP of Pio Cabanillas Emilio Attard and Jose Pedro Perez Llorca It comprised seven regional parties Liberals Federation of Democratic and Liberal Parties FPDL of Joaquin Garrigues Walker and Antonio Fontan It comprised nine regional parties People s Democratic Party PDP of Ignacio Camunas Solis Liberal Party PL of Enrique Larroque Liberal Progressive Party PPL of Juan Garcia Madariaga Regional parties Extremaduran Regional Action AREX of Enrique Sanchez de Leon Independent Galician Party PGI of Jose Luis Meilan Andalusian Social Liberal Party PSLA of Manuel Clavero Canarian Union UC of Lorenzo Olarte Murcian Democratic Union UDM of Antonio Perez Crespo Later the Independent Social Federation FSI of Jesus Sancho Rof was also added to the coalition 11 Some months later all these parties were merged and UCD constituted itself as a party on 4 August 1977 The UCD governed Spain until December 1982 In the elections of 15 June 1977 the party took 34 4 of the vote and 166 seats of the 350 in the Congress of Deputies The party governed as a minority and worked with all major parties in the Congress including the rightist People s Alliance and the parties of the left the Spanish Socialist Workers Party PSOE and Communists PCE Suarez became the first democratically chosen prime minister of Spain after the Franco period The UCD played a major role in writing the new constitution as three of the seven members of the constitutional drafting commission established after those elections came from the party In March 1979 the UCD again won the general election but could not attain a majority with 34 8 of the vote and 168 deputies Demise edit The demise of the UCD began when in 1979 the Socialist Party moderated its outlook by dropping the references to Marxism from its programme At the same time the right wing People s Alliance increasingly oriented to the political centre and by undergoing a generation change could overcome its Francoist image Thus the space for the centrist UCD shrank 12 Despite this the UCD was returned for a second term in 1979 with a slight increase in vote share Internal divisions edit The fundamental reason for the party s disappearance was internal conflict between its diverse factions which led to the resignation of Suarez as prime minister in January 1981 Suarez was replaced by Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo for the remainder of the term of the Cortes Many believe that the only factor that had kept the party together was the writing of the constitution With that work done the party became increasingly unpopular due to the growth of unemployment inflation and the general economic crisis affecting the country Splits and defections 1980 1982 edit During the course of the 1979 1982 legislature the party suffered a number of serious splits and defections On 7 March 1980 Joaquim Molins resigned from the UCD group and later joined the Catalan Nationalist Convergence and Union On 25 April 1980 Manuel Clavero resigned from the party in disputes over the statute of autonomy for Andalusia Two months later Jose Garcia Perez resigned over the same issue Garcia joined the Andalusian Socialist Party on 1 September 1981 On 10 November 1981 Manuel Diaz Pinies resigned from the party and 1 February 1982 he together with three other deputies Miguel Herrero de Minon Ricardo de la Cierva and Francisco Soler Valero joined the Popular Alliance AP The first of a number of breakaway parties emerged three days later on 4 February 1982 when 10 UCD deputies from the left of the party Francisco Fernandez Ordonez Antonio Alfonso Quiros Luis Berenguer Carmela Garcia Moreno Ciriaco Diaz Porras Luis Gonzalez Seara Eduardo Moreno Javier Moscoso Maria Dolores Pelayo and Carmen Solano formed the Democratic Action Party Partido de Accion Democratica PAD This group stood as part of the PSOE list in the 1982 election and merged with the PSOE in January 1983 In Summer 1982 the party splintered further Two deputies Modesto Fraile and Carlos Gila quit the party and in August they along with 11 other UCD deputies oscar Alzaga Mariano Alierta Joaquin Galant Julen Guimon Maria Josefa Lafuente Jose Luis Moreno Francisco Olivencia Jose Manuel Otero Jose Pin Arboledas Jose Luis Ruiz Navarro and Luis Vega formed the People s Democratic Party PDP This party allied itself with the AP for the 1982 election Also in August 16 deputies headed by the former leader and Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez formed the Democratic and Social Centre CDS 13 Among the founding members were deputies such as Agustin Rodriguez Sahagun Jaume Barnola Leon Buil Rafael Calvo Ortega Jose Maria Mesa Josep Pujadas Jose Javier Rodriguez Alcaide and Manuel de Sarraga and Alejandro Rebollo Alvarez Amandi The CDS fought the 1982 election in direct competition with the UCD Although the UCD had been joined by Jose Maria de Areilza and Antoni de Senillosa who had defected from the AP the UCD party group had now been reduced to 124 deputies 52 short of a majority The PSOE at this point had 118 deputies and could also count on the support of the 10 deputies of the PAD and the 21 members of the Communist Party In light of this new situation in Parliament Calvo Sotelo called fresh elections 1982 election and disbanding edit Following the attempted coup of 1981 the socialists convincingly won the 1982 general election The UCD presenting Landelino Lavilla Alsina as its candidate for prime minister was nearly wiped out taking only 6 7 of the vote and 11 seats losing over 100 of their sitting deputies one of the worst defeats ever suffered by a western European governing party The CDS also fared poorly with only two of its sixteen sitting deputies winning seats Most of the UCD s electorate became supporters of the AP PDP alliance which later became the People s Party today Spain s principal conservative party The AP PDP displaced the UCD as the main alternative to the PSOE Many ex ministers and leaders of the UCD also joined the AP ranks Subsequently the UCD was disbanded on 18 February 1983 Electoral performance editCortes Generales edit Cortes GeneralesElection Congress Senate Leading candidate Status in legislatureVotes Seats Seats 1977 6 310 391 34 44 1st 165 350 106 207 Adolfo Suarez Minority1979 6 268 593 34 84 1st 168 350 nbsp 3 118 208 nbsp 12 Adolfo Suarez Minority1982 1 425 093 6 77 3rd 12 350 nbsp 156 4 208 nbsp 114 Landelino Lavilla OppositionRegional parliaments edit Region Election Votes Seats Status in legislatureAndalusia 1982 371 154 13 03 3rd 15 109 OppositionBasque Country 1980 78 095 8 49 5th 6 60 OppositionCatalonia 1980 Within CC UCD 18 135 Confidence and supplyGalicia 1981 274 191 27 80 2nd 24 71 Confidence and supplyNavarre 1979 68 040 26 69 1st 20 70 Mandatory coalitionLiterature editHopkin Jonathan 1999 Party Formation and Democratic Transition in Spain The Creation and Collapse of the Union of the Democratic Centre Macmillan Press ISBN 0312219121See also editPolitics of Spain Spanish transition to democracy Jose Larranaga ArenasReferences edit La crisis de UCD culmina con la decision de disolverse como partido politico El Pais in Spanish 19 February 1983 Retrieved 13 December 2019 Exito y fracaso sin precedentes en la historia de las democracias El Pais in Spanish 19 February 1983 Retrieved 13 December 2019 a b Bozoki Andras Lomax Bill 1996 The revenge of history The Portuguese Spanish and Hungarian transitions some comparisons Stabilising Fragile Democracies Comparing new party systems in Southern and Eastern Europe Routledge p 197 a b c d Story Jonathan 1995 Spain s external relations redefined 1975 1989 Democratic Spain Reshaping External Relations in a Changing World Routledge p 33 a b c d Steed Michael Humphreys Peter 1988 Identifying liberal parties Liberal Parties in Western Europe Cambridge University Press pp 425 426 Matuschek Peter 2004 Who Learns from Whom The Failure of Spanish Christian Democracy and the Success of the Partido Popular Christian Democratic Parties in Europe since the End of the Cold War Leuven University Press p 244 Helfert Rolf 2020 20 Ruckkehr zur Demokratie und die neue Demokratie Die Geschichte Mallorcas Ein Blick auf 10 000 bewegte Jahre Books on Demand ISBN 9783751934565 Schafer Thilo 5 June 2020 Wie sich Spaniens Regierung an einem Nato Gipfel abarbeitet Mallorca Zeitung Encarnacion Omar G 2008 Spanish Politics Polity Press p 55 Montero Jose Ramon 1999 Stabilising the Democratic Order Electoral Behaviour in Spain Politics and Policy in Democratic Spain Frank Cass pp 62 63 Ministerio del Interior de Espana Partidos politicos que integraron Union de Centro Democratico in Spanish Retrieved May 22 2015 Haas Melanie 2006 Das Parteiensystem Spaniens Die Parteiensysteme Westeuropas VS Verlag p 433 Haas Melanie 2006 Das Parteiensystem Spaniens Die Parteiensysteme Westeuropas VS Verlag p 436 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Union of the Democratic Centre Spain amp oldid 1203276210, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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