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The honeymoon is over. One month after the forced and surprising formation of the Constituent Unit, the pact that the DC, the PPD, the PS, the PR, the PRO and Ciudadanos registered after the failed negotiations of municipal primaries and regional governors of the center-left, today the bloc faces its first divisions.
Since September 30, the leaders of the pact made a series of gestures in order to consolidate the bloc, which some see as the basis for a future governing coalition. Thus, they began a series of meetings between the helmsmen and general secretaries, which culminated in a great “staging” to receive the results of the plebiscite on October 25.
However, a day after that joint act – in which they even sent to make badges to “leave the mark” of the Constituent Unit- the first differences between the communities materialized. And the issue settled on a discussion that will be fundamental for the claims of the center-left in the future constitutional convention: if the opposition should go on one or two lists to face those elections.
“It is impossible and unrealistic that the entire opposition is on a single list for the convention,” said the president of the DC, Fuad chahin, in conversation with La Tercera, proposing, instead, a system of two “complementary lists” that allow the diversity of projects in the sector.
His statements prompted the rest of the helmsmen to express their positions and even criticize the position of the DC. In fact, the issue was addressed yesterday at the meeting of the general secretaries of the bloc parties. At that meeting, some leaders conveyed to the Christian Democratic representative, David Morales, that he “should join the majority” and that it would not be a “good idea” for them to advance a position that should define joint coordination.
Prior to that appointment, the Socialist Party had already issued a statement in which they reaffirmed that they will seek “the construction of a single list of candidates for the constitutional convention” and regretted that “some from the opposition insist on the strategy of the division ”.
In that community they assure that this is not a matter of electoral mathematics but of political will. Your president, Álvaro Elizalde, He explains that “the Chilean electoral system establishes the n + 1 norm, that is, to the total of elected by district an additional quota for the list is added. But, likewise, the reform that enshrined parity, established that in the districts in which 3 and 4 conventional ones are elected, a list can register up to 6. Therefore, the quotas amount to 195 at the national level and the current opposition elected 83 deputies. How can a list not be possible where there are more than double the quotas”.
“This is not a problem of quotas, it is a problem of will. If we want 2/3 of the constitutional convention to advance with the changes that Chile demands, the unity of the progressive forces is required. Enough of excuses, “he added.
Also, the helmsman of the PPD, Heraldo Muñoz, he set his position yesterday in the speech to launch his presidential candidacy. “We must go on a single list to the convention of all the opposition. That it is not said that it cannot be said is a matter of political will, ”he said.
However, others in the coordination have shown themselves along the same lines as Chahin. For the helmsman of the Radical Party, Carlos Maldonado, it would be a “mistake” to look at a single payroll as the objective of the sector. “I consider it a mistake to transform the single list into a slogan or a synonym for unity, because it is not necessarily the case. Both the single list and the two lists have pros and cons, ”he says. And he adds that “the sum of political and social forces of the opposition can occur in one or two lists, the important thing is that we agree on the underlying issues and join forces in the constituent body. In short, we have to analyze which is the best option, not only in terms of efficiency, but also in terms of breadth and diversity, to adequately include the independent world, and interpret the vast majority of citizens who voted I approve ”.
In this sense, among those who argue that a unitary list would be unrealistic, they assure that the issue also lies in electoral mathematics. For them, it would be “very difficult” to achieve an agreement of the entire center-left in districts in which, for example, four candidates per list compete. This, they say, would be complex because they would have to reach common ground with the other six forces of the Broad Front.
In the other communities of the block, meanwhile, they have also addressed this matter. From the PRO, its president Camilo Lagos assures that “they are in favor of a single list of the opposition”, while the helmsman of Ciudadanos, Ignacia Gomez, maintains that “we are open to evaluating which is the best electoral strategic option to ensure a convention representative of the transformations that Chile demands. That is why we are going to evaluate which is the best strategy: two complementary lists or a single list ”.
However, from the bloc they ensure that the issue could be addressed tomorrow at the meeting of the helmsmen of the Constituent Unit.
“There is no point in holding presidential and parliamentary elections in the middle of the constitutional process. Either we advance them to April 2021, or we do them at the end of the process. However, the current Congress should dissolve itself when the Constitutional Convention begins. That was the approach that the former PRO presidential flag bearer, Marco Enriquez-Ominami (ME-O) published on his Twitter two days before the plebiscite.
The proposal generated discomfort among his peers in the bloc, who privately convey that it would be an attempt by ME-O to draw attention to what they read as a presidential intention. “It is part of his presidentialitis,” says an industry leader.
The widespread malaise of the Constituent Unit crystallized in the response that the president of Ciudadanos gave him that same day on the social network. “Proposals that go beyond the institutional framework supported by the citizens damage the constitutional process. Our institutional framework must follow its course and the convention must fulfill the role given to it by the vast majority of Chile, whose will we are mandated to respect, “he said. María Ignacia Gomez.
Another factor that the sector assures that it will be a permanent tension is the presidential race. In the coordination parties there is already a long list of candidates for La Moneda. In fact, in the PPD yesterday Muñoz himself joined other figures such as Francisco Vidal. While in DC Ximena Rincón and Alberto Undurraga are already in the race. On the other hand, leaders of the bloc insist that ME-O would be betting on a new adventure. And, beyond the internal primaries that could occur -or not- within the collectivities, the sector will have to define whether they will resolve through this mechanism the letter of the Constituent Unit or, instead, if they will face those elections including the rest of the the center left.
In that sense, within the coordination there are sectors more likely, such as the PS, to have broad primaries with the Frente Amplio, while some collectives such as the DC are reluctant to include that coalition and the Communist Party.
