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“It is very absurd that we ourselves emphasize what divides us, which is not what is essential, and at the same time we favor unity in what is not essential on the other side (the opposition).” These were some of the statements that the President Sebastian Piñera delivered on Monday, during a meeting with leaders of Chile Vamos, a meeting that aimed to analyze the budget for 2021.
At that meeting, the Head of State insisted on one of his concerns: the unity that Chile should maintain. We are facing the constitutional plebiscite on October 25.
Thus, in his speech before the ruling bloc, Piñera emphasized that the axis of the debate has been on the dilemma that exists on the options of Approval or Rejection, which, in his opinion, are not essential. And she called them to focus on the discussion of the contents for a Constitution.
The message was based on a premise: that, according to Piñera’s diagnosis, the center-left is united around the Approval, but regarding the constitutional content there is no common position in that sector, unlike – he raised – what would happen in the center right.
For this same reason, the President issued a decalogue to his cabinet with the key points that, in his opinion, should be in a Magna Carta. And, in addition, he has addressed this issue in different meetings with the ministers of the political committee, with sector secretaries of State, with leaders of Chile Vamos and with some of his former collaborators, such as Andres Chadwick.
In this context, inside the Palace a diagnosis has been installed about the “great battle” that will come for the ruling party: beyond the plebiscite itself, the need to face the process that will be opened later, in case – as you believe in the center right – the approval prevails in the national consultation.
Therefore, according to government sources, the conversations that the President has held are focused, beyond his interest in emphasizing the discussion on the content, on three axes: that there is a clear regulation for the constitutional convention in case he wins the Approval; that the day after the plebiscite there is a unitary act of the ruling party, and, thirdly, that there are competitive candidates who represent the ideas of the sector for the election of constituents (see boxes).
On Monday, during the regular meeting of President Piñera and the ministers of the political committee, the President -according to government sources- commented on the decalogue of content that the Constitution should contain. There, the Head of State asked his secretaries of state to deepen this work and focus on generating content in conjunction with Chile Vamos. Also, according to the same sources, he asked the head of the Segpres, Christian Monckeberg, that he also gets involved in one of the debates that concern him in case he wins the Approval: the regulation that will govern the constitutional convention, an aspect that has not yet been defined and that is one of the pending constitutional agreement reached in November.
This issue, in fact, has also been discussed between the President and leaders of Chile Vamos. And the idea is that there is a joint proposal from the bloc to be able to discuss it with the opposition.
In the Palace, in any case, they convey that this is an issue that they have to approach with caution, since they want to avoid being said that there is interference by the Executive. In that sense, they emphasize that a proposal on the matter can be made for the parties to agree on, but that later it will depend on the convention itself.
In any case, in La Moneda they recognize that what they want to avoid is what has happened in countries like Bolivia, where – they comment – it took more than eight months to reach agreements on this matter.
Another point that the government seeks to resolve as soon as possible is the place where the convention will operate. This, because it is stipulated that the President participate in the first meeting of this instance.
There have already been several opportunities in which the Head of State has told the presidents of the Chile Vamos parties that they have to have good candidates for the election of constituents and that one of their tasks is to achieve that objective. This, aiming that they are not only competitive cards, but also that they faithfully represent the ideas of the center-right.
The objective of this message is to avoid that, in the changes to be made to the Magna Carta, there are setbacks like what happened in Congress with the vote to withdraw 10% of the pension fund, which divided and strongly stressed the ruling party .
But that has not been discussed only with the parties, but also with their ministers. According to government sources, the President has conveyed that those authorities – ministers, undersecretaries, seremis and mayors – who want to be candidates for the constitutional convention are free to do so.
In that sense, inside the Palace there is already comment on possible authorities who will have to resign from their positions if they decide to compete. For this, in any case, they must do it just when they register the candidacies, whose deadline is January next year.
Anyway, some names have already begun to appear as possible letters, among them, the undersecretaries Katherine Martorell and Juan José Ossa. Likewise, there are some ministers in government who believe they could take up this challenge, for example, Baldo prokurica, Cristián Monckeberg, Raul Figueroa and Juan Carlos Jobet.
In fact, in the Executive they affirm that the minister of the Segegob, Jaime Bellolio, began to probe the authorities that would be available to compete. This, in any case, is crossed by the definitions that the authorities that have to resign in November must also take if they want to be candidates for Parliament, for which the names of the ministers are also mentioned Antonio Walker, Felipe Ward, Lucas Palacios and Julius Isamit.
Another issue that has been discussed between the President and some of his ministers is what will be the staging of the day after the plebiscite. In La Moneda they explain that there are already some ideas on the table regarding carrying out a unitary act that brings together the President, the government authorities and the leaders of Chile Vamos who were for the Approval and for the Rejection. According to the same sources, the idea is to close ranks and transmit the signal that the coalition, regardless of the result of the plebiscite, will be united.
In the government, especially in the sectors that are for the Rejection, they believe that the opposition will try to establish communicationally the idea that the national consultation is a kind of “recall referendum” and that if the Approval is successful they will want to convey that with that it is put -in practice- end the Piñera government. This, considering that the majority position that has been defended in the ruling party is Rejection. Thus, within the sector, there are not a few who warn that this scenario would imply an ideological failure.
“If some want to transform the result of the plebiscite into a recall referendum, I think they are going much further than what the people decide and what the citizens are deciding. And, therefore, it is conduct that one could classify as undemocratic, “said the Interior Minister, Victor Perez, on August 17, giving an account of the concern that is installed inside the Palace.
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