It forms part of the larger Union for Chile block of right-wing opposition to the Christian Democrat-led government.

Union for Chile has 47 members in the house compared to 70 belonging to the centrist government coalition. Their candidate Arturo Alessandri Bessa polled 24 percent of the votre in the 1994 presidential elections compared to Eduardo Frei.

The party has never made any secret of its affiliations to the Pinochet regime.

This is how they describe that period in Chilean history on their website: "In the final year of the Allended government, the Gremialistas (the movement that subsequently turned into the UDI) took part in coordinating the national strikes protesting economic policies and violations of personal rights committed by Popular Unity (the movement of Salvador Allende, the Marxist elected to rule in Chile in 1970 and overthrown by Pinochet in 1973)...

...Once the government of Allende was terminated, there was a massive incorporation of young professional Gremialistas into the government of President Pinochet from 1973 to 1990."