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Union of the Democratic Centre Unión de Centro Democrático | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | UCD |
| Leader | Adolfo Suárez (1977–1981)Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo (1981–1982) |
| Founded | 3 May 1977 (1977-05-03)(alliance) 7 August 1977 (1977-08-07)(party) |
| Dissolved | 18 February 1983 (1983-02-18)[1][2] |
| Ideology | Constitutional monarchism[3] Christian democracy[4][5] Liberalism[4][5] Reformism[6] Factions: Liberal conservatism[7][8] Social democracy[4][5] |
| Political position | Centre[4] to centre-right[3][9][10] |
| European affiliation | European Democrat Union (observer)[5] |
| Colours | Orange,Green |
TheUnion of the Democratic Centre (Spanish:Unión de Centro Democrático,UCD, also translated as "Democratic Centre Union") was anelectoral alliance, and laterpolitical party, inSpain, existing from 1977 to 1983. It was initially led byAdolfo Suárez (1977–1981) and then byLeopoldo Calvo-Sotelo (1981–1982). It was dissolved in 1983 following ideological splits and member defections to other parties, such as theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party or thePeople's Alliance.
The coalition, in fact a federation of parties, was formed on 3 May 1977, during the transition to democracy from the dictatorship ofFrancisco Franco, with the involvement of leaders from a variety of newly formed centrist and rightist factions, under the leadership of Suárez, thenPrime Minister. The principal components of the UCD defined themselves asChristian democrats,liberals,social democrats, or "independents", the latter frequently comprisingconservative 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.
In theelections of 15 June 1977, the party took 34.4% of the vote and 166 seats of the 350 in theCongress 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, theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) andCommunists (PCE). Suárez became the first democratically chosen prime minister of Spain after the Franco period. The UCD played a major role in writing the newconstitution, as three of the seven members of the constitutional drafting commission, established after those elections, came from the party.
In 1979, the Socialist Workers' Party moderated its outlook by dropping the references to Marxism from its programme. At the same time, the right-wingPeople's Alliance increasingly moved to the political centre (and, by undergoing a generational change, could overcome itsFrancoist image), thus the space for the centrist UCD shrank.[12] Despite this, the UCD was returned for a second term in the1979 general election, with a slight increase in vote share but could not attain a majority, with 34.8% of the vote and 168 deputies.
The demise of the UCD began when an internal conflict emerged between its diverse factions. 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.
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 NationalistConvergence 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 would join theAndalusian Socialist Party on 1 September 1981. Meanwhile, Suárez resigned as prime minister in January 1981. He was replaced byLeopoldo Calvo Sotelo for the remainder of the term of theCortes.
On 10 November 1981,Manuel Díaz-Piniés resigned from the party and on 1 February 1982 he, together with three other deputiesMiguel Herrero de Miñón,Ricardo de la Cierva andFrancisco Soler Valero joined thePopular 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 andCarmen Solano formed theDemocratic 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 the summer of 1982, the party splintered further. Two deputies (Modesto Fraile andCarlos Gila) quit the party, 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 andLuis Vega), formed thePeople'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 theDemocratic and Social Centre (CDS).[13] Among the founding members were deputies such asAgustín Rodríguez Sahagún,Jaume Barnola,León Buil,Rafael Calvo Ortega,José María Mesa,Josep Pujadas,José Javier Rodríguez Alcaide andManuel de Sàrraga andAlejandro Rebollo Álvarez-Amandi. The CDS fought the 1982 election in direct competition with the UCD.
Although the UCD had been joined byJosé María de Areilza andAntoni 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.
Following the1981 coup attempt, the socialists convincingly won the1982 general election. The UCD, presentingLandelino 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 thePeople'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.
| Cortes Generales | ||||||||
| Election | Leading candidate | Congress | Senate | Gov. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||
| 1977 | Adolfo Suárez | 6,310,391 | 34.4 (#1) | 165 / 350 | 15,472,170 | 29.9 (#1) | 106 / 207 |  |
| 1979 | 6,268,593 | 34.8 (#1) | 168 / 350 | 16,691,333 | 33.2 (#1) | 119 / 208 | | |
| 1982 | Landelino Lavilla | 1,425,093 | 6.8 (#3) | 11 / 350 | 4,017,007 | 6.8 (#3) | 4 / 208 |  |
| 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 | WithinCC–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 |
| Year |  ES |  EU |  AN |  AR |  AS |  CN |  CB |  CM |  CL |  CT |  CE |  EX |  GL |  IB | .svg) RI |  MD |  ML |  MC |  NC |  PV |  CV | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 34.4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
| 1978 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979 |  34.4 | 26.7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1980 | 10.6 | 8.5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1981 | 27.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1982 |  6.8 | 13.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | ES | EU | AN | AR | AS | CN | CB | CM | CL | CT | CE | EX | GL | IB | RI | MD | ML | MC | NC | PV | CV | ||
Bold indicates best result to date. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
