Evelyn Matthei: “Let’s be clear that new figures are going to emerge … This is not between Lavín and me”

“Yes, I could be a candidate when everyone knew I was going to lose. I could be a candidate to be put in the Ministry of the Interior when it suited them … ”, launches the mayor of Providencia, Evelyn Matthei, already annoyed by the questions that have arisen in Chile. We are going to meet her partner in Las Condes , Joaquín Lavín, in the presidential race. Matthei defends his right to propose an alternative and adventure that will not be the only one on the center-right.

I know you kept your vote from last Sunday in reserve. Can this be understood mainly as a gesture in favor of your sector that was divided between the Approval and the Rejection?

Yes, it was a totally rational decision, in which I realized that many people voted Rejection, either because they have done well with the current rules of the game, because they are afraid. There are others who announced their vote for Approval either by conviction or by convenience. The point is that our sector was deeply divided between one and the other, but the result really should not have been a mystery to anyone. The result was not the issue, it was how to later talk with those who publicly championed the Approval and Rejection, it is super important that all these sectors can talk again and, therefore, beyond any candidacy, it does not have nothing to do with electoral calculation, but with the possibility of talking again and uniting people who, in reality, if you ask them what their dreams are regarding Chile, are quite similar.

The reflection regarding your sector is perfectly understood, however, you aspire to be a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, don’t you think that a decision as important as that of the plebiscite should be known?

I think not, because it makes no difference and because, furthermore, from the beginning I made it very clear that it was because people were consulted. So respecting the plebiscite, the process, listening to the public, I think that was the main thing and I fulfilled it with largesse

What’s the point of going out to compete with someone like Lavín, who for a while has appeared as consolidated in the polls?

Let us be clear that new figures are going to emerge. This is not between Lavín and me. Here, it is most likely that Desbordes is a candidate or a pre-candidate; Sebastián Sichel, Felipe Kast will still be in a primary school, and this is part of a wealth of being able to converse, show different paths, be able to agree and that finally it is the citizenship that, in primary schools, decides who is the best figure. It seems to me that it is a tremendous strength that there can be four or five figures competing for the right.

But there the logic is that this power in general, because what is the point of competing with someone who beats everyone in the polls …

Well, let’s see poh … It turns out that it is different if you approve or have sympathy for someone who is really going to vote for you or someone who is in front and is going to vote for someone else. I really believe that this is a very good possibility to debate what we are, what we believe, where we are going, and to the extent that these people are diverse and committed, we all commit ourselves, we effectively support whoever wins , is a tremendous strength of our sector.

Does he allude to Lavín when he points out that the adversary looks at you a lot with great sympathy, but when it comes down to it, he is going to vote for someone from his sector?

No, I was not referring to him and I want to be super clear that I was not referring to him. Let us be clear that there are polls and surveys, there are some in which their methodology does not allow one to call it a survey. I still do not know of a serious, face-to-face survey, at the level of all of Chile, in which they ask this between and between, what do I prefer, that still does not exist And when you see the surveys, there are some who are up there with nine points, but from nine to 51 is enough, right?

You yourself implied that what triggered your interest in the presidential race were the actions of Joaquín Lavín, something that worries you about his candidacy, what is …?

I don’t want to go into that, I think so, everyone knows what triggered it, but I think that at this point one has to be really super responsible, we are in moments of Chile that is delicate, I think the worst thing we can do is criticize each other or highlight differences. Each one has to propose what they believe in, what they want to gamble on, see what can be agreed upon and that finally people choose, and I think that we also have to have the greatness that first, whoever wins the primaries, all the others have to raise their hands that night and play for that person, and secondly, one also has to have the greatness of knowing that perhaps someone can win the primary and yet not be the best candidate for the sector, everything We will see that over time.

That is said about you, mayoress, that you can win a primary in Chile Vamos and that you may not necessarily be able to unite broad wills outside your sector …

Suppose that were so … There are also some who say that I have such a terrible character that I cannot be President, right? Yes I could be a candidate when everyone knew I was going to lose, I could be a candidate to be put in the Ministry of the Interior when it suited them, for that my character is fantastic. So yes, many things are said about me, probably because I am a woman, because I don’t know if all those things would be said if I were a man. Regarding the issue that they can win the primaries, it is also very different there. Suppose there is every chance of winning the second round to the center right, suppose there is no chance of winning. Someone can tell me that these cases are probably very different and that, therefore, the candidate they require is also different. In one, a candidate is required to maintain ideas and cohesion, in the other he is the most competitive. But we know nothing of all that. There are people who want to draw conclusions from poorly done surveys and who, in addition, what they show are nine or 11 points out of 51 that they have to reach. Then do not come to me with nonsense.

What is it about you that makes you better represent your industry? Why is Evelyn Matthei interested in being a presidential candidate? Besides, he had a bad time last time, didn’t he?

Sorry, and why would Mario Desbordes be interested in being a presidential candidate? And why Joaquín Lavín? It is very curious that they always ask me all these questions, as if I had to justify. Am I the only one who has to justify? Or does everyone have to justify? In other words, if Desbordes comes out tomorrow, is he also going to have to justify that he is a presidential candidate, even though Joaquín Lavín is there? Or am I the only one who has to justify? And Sichel has said that maybe it will also enter, and Felipe Kast also. So, let’s agree, do we all have to justify those who enter later? If I didn’t have the qualifications to be a presidential candidate, why did they come looking for me eight years ago? But why did they come looking for me eight years ago and not Lavín? And why did I ring in two cabinet changes for the Ministry of the Interior and Lavín did not ring. I mean, do I only serve for the horns? Ah? When you can’t win, I can be a presidential candidate; When there are serious difficulties in the Ministry of the Interior, Evelyn works there, but if she decides that she is a presidential candidate, she has to justify why this impudence of wanting to be a candidate. It does not seem to me, I will not go into that logic.

Have you felt any hostility in your industry? Because she feels angry when these issues are brought up to her.

No. It angers me every time I feel like women are treated differently than men. That really annoys me and it has touched me many times. The truth is that there are a series of issues that are absolutely essential for Chile to come out together and be a country with a future, and I think I have the right to put all these issues up for discussion.

Do you think that your post-outbreak sector has also advanced to that same reading?

I think it will advance and that is very important. I think that many people who believed that everything was fine, I publicly said, when Piñera was elected, that he had to put ministers who came from regions, public schools, the first generation of the university, I have been saying these things for a long time and probably because I was a deputy for San Antonio, where I was in the camps having tea with the ladies and listened to them, and because I was in the Fourth Region, where in some sectors there is enormous poverty and despair. I know these things, I have lived them. You can read the issue of inequity and the effects that one has, they are written, they are in books, but I believe that in the end emotions often burn those convictions much more than reading essays, books, etc. And I have that with an absolute conviction and I have been saying it for a long time. So there are many issues that I want to put in discussion whether I win or not, we will see it later, we will talk about it later. I have never been a foolish person who tries to impose my will, but I have the right to speak out and introduce myself without explaining to anyone.

And do you think that you have to join forces with José Antonio Kast or are you like Ossandón, who says that you have to get away from what he dominates the extreme right?

I am absolutely open to talking with him.

You had set December as your goal to see if the candidacy would turn … Is that still like that?

December January. What happens is that one believes at some minute that the decision has been made, but clearly I see something else, I see that Desbordes is going to present itself anyway, that it is also likely that Sichel will enter, which is good, is good that we show these faces, different names, that we renew the cards …

Why are you so convinced of that?

Because we cannot be the same as always, how can it not be good if a new, different person enters. In the case of Desbordes, he comes from a family with a lot of effort, he studied in public school, how can it not be good to have such a candidate on the right. It’s like having a female candidate. In Sichel’s case, it came from the opposition. How can that not be good for the right wing? I think the worst that can happen is having only one candidate. They run him over, he gets sick and one is left with nothing.