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No one can deny it. The signature that stamped yesterday the former president Michelle Bachelet to the open letter – which today has almost 1,200 rubrics – in which socialist militants promote the presidential candidacy of Paula Narvaez it shook the presidential scene of the center-left. The determination had its most significant effects within the Socialist Party, a few days after a group of 14 deputies and some senators asked their helmsman, Alvaro Elizalde, take up the challenge, setting up the debate for the realization of open primaries and complicating the way for the leader of the community, who until now only had José Miguel Insulza in front.
But the scope of the decision of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to set aside her disregard of the local political debate, is not only reduced to the socialist contest but also extends -as recognized in the sector- to several of the opposition flag bearers already in the race.
Narváez’s option had been heard for a long time within the PS. But it was the paper promoted by 14 deputies and some senators last week, asking helmsman Álvaro Elizalde to assume a pre-candidacy, which ended up rushing his promoters to break in with his name. And they did it with force.
In the midst of the void in which the party found itself and when the socialist leader has not yet defined whether he is going to compete, the option of the former spokesperson of the second government of President Michelle Bachelet completely modified the scenario in which socialism had been plunged for months. before the refusal of Carlos Montes me Isabel Allende to explore a candidacy, immediately forcing the debate on holding an open primary. “Until now the directive had not been clear about conducting a citizen consultation, Narváez contributes to that”says a party leader.
In fact, it was precisely after the emergence of the former minister as a presidential letter that the board publicly promised yesterday to propose to the central committee an itinerary that includes an open primary within the party.
Bachelet’s support for his former minister, they recognize in the PS, was a “hard blow” to Elizalde, who also served as spokesman for the second term of the high commissioner. But beyond that, say the same sources, the explicit support of the ex-president would complicate the presidential path of the helmsman. This is because, if they compete, in the match they assure that if the race against Insulza was understood to have been won, with Nárvaez in the table the result would not be so clear.
The same sources maintain that although, unlike Elizalde, the psychologist also does not have party machinery -something key to winning an election of this nature- His candidacy could summon, in addition to the dissent, independent forces and also some disenchanted with the third party itself.
In fact, figures from that faction – led by Elizalde – such as the former vice president of the Party’s Women, Violeta Reyes, the letter from the PS to the municipality of Ñuñoa, Paula mendoza, and the director of the Horizonte Ciudadano Foundation, Paulina Vodanovic, also signed the letter in favor of Narváez. However, others in the community assure that Narváez has little knowledge and, therefore, the senator from El Maule would have high chances of winning in a primary in which both are measured.
Despite this, Elizalde has conveyed to those close to him that his role should be focused on being the guarantor of the process and, therefore, he would be leaning toward not assuming a candidacy. He has also said that he hopes that Narváez’s candidacy will burst forth with significant citizen support. “I am not seeking to be a candidate,” he said this morning.
Close to Insulza, meanwhile, they assure that the thesis defended by the parliamentarian of holding an open consultation and not deciding the standard-bearer through the central committee, as happened in 2017 when the PS supported Alejandro Guillier to the detriment of Ricardo Lagos, is reinforced with this new scenario. The same sources maintain that eIt is essential that the party present new leaderships and reconcile itself before the citizens in a participatory and open process, especially after the results of the mayors’ primaries, in which the community lost in key areas such as Pudahuel.
And although Narváez’s irruption was well received, some sectors of the PS have expressed concern about the tone with which the former chief of staff of the former president, Ana Lya Uriarte, defended his application. The lawyer assured yesterday The Third PM, that if Elizalde decides to be a candidate, he must leave the party presidency. “It does a disservice to Narváez and creates tension,” says a parliamentarian who supports the option of the socialist helmsman.
Before Bachelet’s endorsement of Narváez, the center-left expected that the ex-president would not comment on the presidential race in Chile. And although today the presidential candidates – mostly former ministers of their governments, with the exception of Jorge Tarud– They assure that they see it as “natural” for him to give his support to a socialist militant, the truth is that Bachelet’s gesture – they say – also stirred the waters in the presidential arena of the Constituent Unit.
The fact that Bachelet chose his former spokesperson as his candidate left “orphans” all his former ministers in the race, such as his former chancellor, Heraldo Muñoz; his former Defense Minister, Francisco Vidal; his former head of Labor, Ximena Rincón; of Public Works, Alberto Undurraga; and Segegob, Marcelo Díaz.
In that sense, some in the group admit that they were surprised by the support that the former president gave to Narváez above all his other former ministers, something that they expected it to happen later in the presidential race. In this sense, some assure that the movements in the bacheletismo could move the balance in the most important opposition party and, therefore, generate a competitive candidacy for the eventual primaries of the Constituent Unit.
Despite this, others rule out having “hoped” to have the support of the former president for their own candidacies and question the meaning of Bachelet’s “finger”. “Perhaps we are no longer in times for the anointed”says one of them.
“I am a 100% bacheletist, so I understand that a socialist activist from the age of 18 like Michelle Bachelet has the legitimate option of another socialist activist who, in addition, is a woman and was her minister. So this is going to be a competition between bacheletists. If I win primary school and Paula hers, what better than a competition between bacheletisitas “, he said Vidal. And he added: “That bacheletismo looks the other way, I don’t think it affects us.”
Likewise, in the sector they ensure that, in the event that Narváez is not able to impose himself on the PS, the bet of the former president may end up affecting her own figure.
However, the majority of the candidates refused to give their opinion on the meaning of the support of the former president, although they valued the appearance of a new candidacy in the PS.
“I believe that all the presidential options in the world of the social democratic left are welcome and welcomed and it seems to me that the name of Paula Narváez adds to this competition, where I hope a thousand flowers will bloom”, commented Muñoz.
While, Undurraga noted that “The candidate or socialist candidate must resolve it the PS. With everything, beyond the support of each one, I hope that they will resolve it in open primaries, for the good of the coalition and the opposition as a whole ”.
For his part, the only one who would not be so affected, say those close to him, would be the ex-socialist deputy, Marcelo Díaz, who served as a government spokesman in the days of the New Majority, but who today is part of the Broad Front and bet by a different electorate.
It generated concern among those who support it and, in fact, today the hashtag was lifted #JaduePresidente On twitter. Among the communists, the clear support that the former president gave to a presidential candidacy for her former minister did not go unnoticed, a situation that left under the carpet the fact that the last political gesture that Bachelet had made was received by the mayor of Recoleta and one of the figures presidential leaders of the opposition, Daniel Jadue.
On October 19, both coincided in a forum on women and the constituent process of the University of Santiago, which was read as an endorsement of the mayor.
In fact, in the circle of the mayor of Recoleta they have recognized the good relationship that he has with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. They comment that they even maintain permanent contact, which is why they at least expected Bachelet’s absence for the presidential race.
