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The president of the Christian Democrats (DC) Fuad Chahín commented on the proposal endorsed by the COVID-19 Advisory Council: postpone the municipal and constituent elections in April due to the health crisis.
“The Minister of Health just called me, Enrique Paris, to warn that the Advisory Council had approved requesting the postponement and that the decision now has to be made by the President of the Republic. And I honestly I went hard “Chahín commented through an audio broadcast by WhatsApp.
Later, the DC helmsman assured that “in my opinion, what the government was doing was sabotaging the constituent process. That the enormous amount of legal problems that is going to be generated is so great. What are we going to do? Are we going to extend the campaign, are we going to suspend the campaign, are we going to have to remove the signs that are there, put up the signs? What happens with all the propaganda, with all the expenses that were made, with credits against the return of the Servel? What will happen to that? Because the deadlines are extended. What is a certain deadline to hold the elections? What about mayors who are suspended? Well, what about election expenses? Will electoral expenses continue to be made? None of those things is resolved, none of all the gigantic legal aspects ”.
Read also: Dr. Izkia Siches: “Parliamentarians should evaluate running elections in extreme cases”
Given this, Chahín reflected on the future winter season and the implications it has in different communes of the country. “Here in the region of La Araucanía, in Lonquimay, already in May we will have a meter and a half of snow ”.
“Honestly, what they are doing here is sabotaging the constitutional process. And that is what I told Minister Paris – that the government, by not taking the appropriate measures, caused this peak of the second wave to arrive just at the time of the elections to sabotage the constituent process. And you have to hold the government responsible for not taking action to the extreme of sabotaging the constitutional process, “he accused.
After that, Fuad Chahín pointed out that “this is for a constitutional accusation. Really. In other words, a minister who, deep down, what he does is let go, delays any measure and when they arrive two weeks before the election, then he recommends suspending it. This is going to affect the legitimacy of the most important electoral process of the last 30 years in Chile! ”.
Read also: It will be discussed this Monday: They advance special session to review postponement of the April elections
“The government’s decision will be timely”
During the COVID-19 balance this Saturday, the president Sebastian Piñera He stated that “we have taken measures to ensure the health protection of voters, such as the constitutional reform that allowed this election to be held in two days.”
Still, “we are permanently analyzing the health situation ”.
“I want to assure you that the government’s decision on elections will be timely and will always prioritize health protection and the lives of all our compatriots ”, he concluded.
Read also: The second highest figure in pandemic: Minsal reported 7,588 new cases of COVID-19 in the country
According to the Advisory Council, the reasons for suggest the change of date of the votes are:
- Sharp increase in cases.
- Hospitalizations on the rise in an already saturated system.
- The protective effect of vaccination has not yet been observed.
- In some regions, an increase in deaths of older adults at home has been observed, which may be the effect of difficulties in accessing hospital beds.
- There is community transmission of more contagious variants.
- There are still weaknesses in the performance of the TTA strategy (Testing, traceability and isolation).
- The positivity of the tests in consultants is over 20%, the response time to the exams and the proportion of isolated cases in safe conditions have been prolonged.
For this reason, the group of experts considers that carrying out the election in this context “can aggravate the situation, not only for the electoral act, but mainly for the activities attached to the vote ”.
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