After two days of meetings between the parties of the entire opposition and the deadline for registering lists in the Servel has ended, the “shields” prevented the talks from advancing and each party will present its own candidate for the municipal and governor elections.
Wednesday 30 September 2020 17:10 hrs.
After two days of meetings at the headquarters of the Socialist Party, this Wednesday and minutes before the deadline for registration of the lists in Servel, the opposition parties did not reach an agreement to bring a single candidate to the next elections in mayors and regional governors.
Despite the fact that the opposition primary for municipalities was practically ruled out in the last negotiations, the talks were held around the first election of governors to be held in the country; but spirits were already heated since last Sunday. That day the Broad Front issued a statement ruling out going to primaries with the rest of the opposition, which generated harsh criticism from the former New Majority, to whom the Frente Amplio bloc responded on Tuesday asking for four “ethical and programmatic minimums” to agree: emphasis on social rights, transparency and citizen participation, on eradicating all forms of corruption and strengthening decentralization at all levels.
With these requirements and emphasizing the idea of a primary that includes all parties and all regions, the representatives of the Broad Front came to speak at the headquarters of the Socialist Party.
From the rest of the former Concertación, they had already branded the FA’s requirements as “obvious” and had called on their peers to join a pact “without conditions”, expressing their willingness to agree in all territories. Within the Progressive Convergence there was optimism and they arrived hopeful at the Paris Street headquarters. So much so that when he arrived at the place, the president of the Radical Party showed a pencil, assuring that he was ready to sign where it had to be done. But within the Unity for Change pact – made up of the Communist Party, the Progressive Party and the Social Green Regionalist Federation – the outlook was different. There were several who mentioned this bloc, and in particular the PC, as those who were “blocking” an agreement that the rest had already assumed, asking to “shield” their strongest candidates. On Tuesday the situation already seemed doomed, but the PS, PPD and PR still trusted that they could save the situation.
But the enthusiasm of the former Concertación was not enough. The deadline to register the agreements in the Servel expired at 5:00 p.m. and an hour before the agreement was already terminated. Some of the negotiators noticed this within minutes of sitting down at the table and regretted having entered a conversation where there was no unity. Thus, it was defined that the opposition as a whole will not have primaries for the election of mayors or governors, so each one will present their own candidates directly for the vote on April 11, 2021.
In this way, in the rest of the opposition, especially within the PS, PPD and PR, the idea of holding a “conventional” or “citizen” primary has gained strength, that is, outside the official instance, with the objective of presenting a single candidate representing the Progressive Convergence.
After two days of meetings at the headquarters of the Socialist Party, this Wednesday and minutes before the deadline for registration of the lists in Servel, the opposition parties did not reach an agreement to bring a single candidate to the next elections in mayors and regional governors.
Despite the fact that the opposition primary for municipal elections was practically ruled out in the last negotiations, the talks were held around the first election of governors to be held in the country; but spirits were already heated since last Sunday. That day the Broad Front issued a statement ruling out going to primaries with the rest of the opposition, which generated harsh criticism from the former New Majority, to whom the Frente Amplio bloc responded on Tuesday asking for four “ethical and programmatic minimums” to agree: emphasis on social rights, transparency and citizen participation, on eradicating all forms of corruption and strengthening decentralization at all levels.
With these requirements and emphasizing the idea of a primary that includes all parties and all regions, the representatives of the Broad Front came to speak at the headquarters of the Socialist Party.
From the rest of the former Concertación, they had already branded the FA’s requirements as “obvious” and had called on their peers to join a pact “without conditions”, expressing their willingness to agree in all territories. Within the Progressive Convergence there was optimism and the headquarters on Paris Street arrived hopeful. So much so that when he arrived at the place, the president of the Radical Party showed a pencil, assuring that he was ready to sign where it had to be done. But within the Unity for Change pact – made up of the Communist Party, the Progressive Party and the Social Green Regionalist Federation – the outlook was different. There were several who mentioned this bloc, and in particular the PC, as those who were “blocking” an agreement that the rest had already assumed, asking to “shield” their strongest candidates. On Tuesday the situation already seemed sentenced, but in the PS, PPD and PR they still trusted that they could save the situation.
But the enthusiasm of the former Concertación was not enough. The deadline to register the agreements in the Servel expired at 5:00 p.m. and an hour before the agreement was already terminated. Some of the negotiators noticed this within minutes of sitting down at the table and regretted having entered a conversation where there was no unity. Thus, it was defined that the opposition as a whole will not have primaries for the election of mayors or governors, so each one will present their own candidates directly for the vote on April 11, 2021.
In this way, in the rest of the opposition, especially within the PS, PPD and PR, the idea of holding a “conventional” or “citizen” primary has gained strength, that is, outside the official instance, with the objective of presenting a single candidate representing the Progressive Convergence.
After two days of meetings at the headquarters of the Socialist Party, this Wednesday and minutes before the deadline for the registration of the lists in Servel, the opposition parties did not reach an agreement to bring a single candidate to the next elections in mayors and regional governors.
Despite the fact that the opposition primary for municipalities was practically ruled out in the last negotiations, the talks were held around the first election of governors to be held in the country; but spirits were already heated since last Sunday. That day the Broad Front issued a statement ruling out going to primaries with the rest of the opposition, which generated harsh criticism from the former New Majority, to whom the Frente Amplio bloc responded this Tuesday asking for four “ethical and programmatic minimums” to agree: emphasis on social rights, transparency and citizen participation, on eradicating all forms of corruption and strengthening decentralization at all levels.
With these requirements and emphasizing the idea of a primary that includes all parties and all regions, the representatives of the Broad Front came to speak at the headquarters of the Socialist Party.
From the rest of the former Concertación, they had already branded the FA’s requirements as “obvious” and had called on their peers to join a pact “without conditions”, expressing their willingness to agree in all territories. Within the Progressive Convergence there was optimism and the headquarters on Paris Street arrived hopeful. So much so that when he arrived at the place, the president of the Radical Party showed a pencil, assuring that he was ready to sign where it had to be done. But within the Unity for Change pact – made up of the Communist Party, the Progressive Party and the Social Green Regionalist Federation – the outlook was different. There were several who mentioned this bloc, and in particular the PC, as those who were “blocking” an agreement that the rest had already assumed, asking to “shield” their strongest candidates. On Tuesday the situation already seemed sentenced, but in the PS, PPD and PR they still trusted that they could save the situation.
But the enthusiasm of the former Concertación was not enough. The deadline to register the agreements in the Servel expired at 5:00 p.m. and an hour before the agreement was already terminated. Some of the negotiators noticed this within minutes of sitting down at the table and regretted having entered a conversation in which there was no unity. Thus, it was defined that the opposition as a whole will not have primaries for the election of mayors or governors, so each one will present their own candidates directly for the vote on April 11, 2021.
In this way, in the rest of the opposition, especially within the PS, PPD and PR, the idea of holding a “conventional” or “citizen” primary has gained strength, that is, outside the official instance, with the objective of presenting a single candidate representing the Progressive Convergence.