Luis Alejandro Silva Irarrázaval (born 24 March 1978) is a Chilean conservative politician who served in the Constitutional Council. Actually, he is the current vice-president of Chile's Republican Party.
In 2023, Silva emerged as the politician with the most votes to draft a new constitution in his country. However, that (conservative) constitutional project was rejected, being the second to be rejected in a row after the left-leaning Constitutional Convention. During the process, he has declared himself an admirer of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship reforms.
In 2024, he returned to teaching at the university, becoming a professor at the Universidad San Sebastián (USS).
Biography.
Early life.
Silva was born and raised in a conservative family close to the political ideas of Jaime Guzmán, a lawyer and ideologue of Pinochet regime who drafted the Constitution of Chile in 1980. Similarly, he attended Verbo Divino school.
He is the brother of the progressive filmmaker, Sebastián Silva, who considers Luis to be a 'national danger'. He hinted that his relationship with Sebastian was distant, but that he felt respect for him and that it made him feel ashamed to be considered a 'danger'.
Scholar background.
In late-90s, Silva joined Pontifical Catholic University of Chile School of Law. There he was president of the student board of his career, and officially graduated in 2004.
Fiver years later, in 2009, he obtained his Ph.D. in laws at the University of the Andes. In that way, Silva has taught law at that university for many years. Similarly, he held the position of Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies in the same scholarly institution.
From 2013 to 2014, he was part of the James Madison Program at Princeton University, where he was the William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in Religion and Public Life.
Political career.
In 2018, Silva met José Antonio Kast in the conservative think-tank, "Jaime Guzmán Foundation" (FJG). In the FJG, he has been an advisor and has given lectures on law.
In 2021, he ran for a seat in the Constitutional Convention and then for the Chamber of Deputies. In both elections, Silva failed to be elected. After that, Silva joined Republican Party in October 2022.
That year (2022) he dedicated himself to being an influencer against the Constitutional Convention and Gabriel Boric's government, which served as an electoral strategy to obtain a seat in the Constitutional Council.