Party Formation

Abstract

A UCD minister interviewed by Richard Gunther described the UCD’s formation as follows: ‘the birth of the UCD is a government which selects individuals to form a parliamentary group, and which then goes on to organise a party’.¹ This chapter examines the first part of this process, in which the Suarez government formed an electoral alliance with various small groups seeking to play a role in the newly developing democratic system. It examines the incentives for cooperation presented to the various participants in the alliance, and the strength of their respective bargaining positions. The purpose is to identify the key features of what Panebianco would call the ‘genetic model’ of the UCD, in order to understand the impact of the party’s origins on its subsequent development. The characteristics of the UCD electorate are also examined in order to assess the electoral constraints affecting the party building process.