{"id":239169,"date":"2021-05-19T09:42:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T13:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=239169"},"modified":"2021-05-19T09:54:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T13:54:31","slug":"what-chile-says-today-to-old-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/world\/latin-america\/what-chile-says-today-to-old-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"What Chile says today to old politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is nothing older than fragmenting the political field between the old and the new, or reading every reconfiguration as a fracture. Undoubtedly when the political forces of a country are replaced by emerging forces and\/or actors, when the relations between them and the political organization\/structure are transformed, when the norms of the political field also change, either through force or negotiation\u2014negotiation is usually a way to avoid or put an end to political violence\u2014we are in the presence of a \u201cbetween,\u201d a before and an after.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Chile today there is no \u201cpolitical fragmentation,\u201d on the contrary, polarization is put to an end like that disease that destroys democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The country context<\/b><\/p>\n

In October 2019, Chile experienced a \u201csocial outbreak\u201d that had as its protagonists in the first place the students, the main political actor in the Chilean political field in the last 15 years (milestones: student mobilization of 2006 and 2011). Along with this, others such as the feminist movement (feminist revolution of 2018), <\/span>No+ AFP<\/span><\/a> movement, unions and grassroots organizations, had a strong presence in the configuration of actor-movements nucleated by strong social but also political demands. Grassroots organizations that confront the party system and the traditional political system, with strong criticism of the neoliberal model and the old <\/span>duopoly<\/span><\/i> political forces expressed in the bicameral system of representation.<\/span><\/p>\n

October 18 marked an upheaval for all the country\u2019s political forces, including the Broad Front (FA). This force irrupted in 2017 as a conglomerate of left-wing parties and organizations, a third political force against the parties of the Chilean right and also of the center-left, the latter \u201ccommitted\u201d to the Coordination (Concertaci\u00f3n de Partidos por la Democracia) and then with the Nueva Mayor\u00eda. The Broad Front emerged putting an end to the <\/span>duopoly<\/span><\/i> of the Chilean political field, distributed between the old right and the old left of parties. Although it has been a force in which the student movement has had an important presence, as <\/span>Carlos Dur\u00e1n (2020<\/span><\/a>) affirms, it is also about \u201cthe continuity of an extra-parliamentary non-communist left.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the <\/span>outbreak<\/span><\/i> led to a strong crisis of Chilean democracy\u2014or perhaps it showed its weaknesses as never before in the last 30 years\u2014, and this had its expression in the first place on the system of political representation. The <\/span>outbreak<\/span><\/i> quickly escalated from social demands to become a massive political movement: New Constitution was its first demand; Constituent Assembly, the second.<\/span><\/p>\n

The political crisis in the country, under a constitutional state of exception, decreed for the first time since the return to democracy for political reasons, the <\/span>human rights<\/span><\/a> violations registered between October 18 and November 25, 2019 and subsequently, marked a break not only of the government but of the entire political field and of the Chilean democratic system.<\/span><\/p>\n

On October 25, 2019, the <\/span>Agreement for Social Peace and the New Constitution<\/span><\/a> was signed. A long night that condensed the level of political crisis within the parties and the separation between them and the citizenry, between the latter and their leaders. The Communist Party (PC), or the Broad Front (FA) as a conglomerate, did not sign this agreement.<\/span>1<\/b> This milestone opened the possibility of the National Plebiscite of October 25, 2020 where the approval for a new constitution won with 78.28%, and 79% expressed that it should be through a Constitutional Convention.<\/span><\/p>\n

May 15 and 16, 2021 elections<\/b><\/p>\n

This weekend the most important election in Chile in its political history took place: representatives were elected to the Constitutional Convention, the body that will draft the New Magna Carta. Said Convention achieved, as a result of the forces that promoted it and endorsed it in the 2020 Plebiscite: (1) gender parity\u2014the only one worldwide in the history of constitutionalism, (2) 17 seats reserved for indigenous peoples and (3) the registration of independent candidates. These three requirements of the Constitutional Convention show the demands of a political field in transformation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The candidacies were made according to Lists and not to parties, precisely as a result of the crisis of representation that they have evidenced. However, we cannot fail to observe that these continue to have an important sign and weight in Chilean politics, even within the so-called \u201cindependents,\u201d a fact to be observed and followed with care. Here is a summary table of the main lists and the parties that made it up:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Lists of Constitutional Convention<\/b><\/td>\nParties<\/b><\/td>\nSeats obtained<\/b><\/td>\n%<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vamos Por Chile<\/b><\/td>\nEvoluci\u00f3n Pol\u00edtica, Partido Republicano de Chile, Revoluci\u00f3n Nacional, Uni\u00f3n Democr\u00e1tica Independiente<\/span><\/td>\n37<\/span><\/td>\n20.56%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apruebo<\/b><\/td>\nCiudadanos, Partido Democracia Cristiana, Partido Liberal de Chile, Partido por la Democracia, Partido Progresista de Chile, Partido Radical de Chile, Partido Socialista de Chile<\/span><\/td>\n25<\/span><\/td>\n14.46%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apruebo Dignidad<\/b><\/td>\nComunes, Convergencia Social, Federaci\u00f3n Regionalista Verde Social, Igualdad, Partido Comunista, Revoluci\u00f3n Democr\u00e1tica<\/span><\/td>\n28<\/span><\/td>\n18.74%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Independents in Lists or pacts<\/b><\/td>\n(Candidacies without political militancy but with affiliation in pacts associated to traditional parties in some cases)<\/span><\/td>\n47*<\/span><\/td>\n30%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Drawn up by the author with SERVEL sources, with 99.91% vote count tables.<\/span><\/h5>\n

Main results<\/b><\/p>\n

The results of the Constitutional Convention show a fall in the parties of both the right and the center-right (Vamos por Chile List), as well as the left and center-left (Apruebo List). An example of this is the dramatic case of the Democracia Cristiana, a historic party within the Chilean political field that has only achieved so far 99.91% of vote count tables according to SERVEL, to include two candidates within the Constitutional Convention, one of them being the president of the Party. On the other hand, a party like the Socialista, despite the blows it has suffered in recent times, mainly leadership crisis and corruption, manages to install 15 constituents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faced with these lists, a direct expression of what is read as a <\/span>duopoly<\/span><\/i> system,<\/em> the Apruebo Dignidad List imposes a relevant force, with parties from the Broad Front and the Communist Party (PC) (7 seats), the most significant being the Democratic Revolution (RD) party, with 9 constituents.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this weekend\u2019s elections have not only been historic because of the Election of Constituent members but also because they were municipal elections (Mayors and Councilors) and Regional Governors (for the first time in Chile). The results cannot be read independently of each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we observe, at the mayoralty level in the Metropolitan Region of 52 communes, 16 women mayors were elected (30%), and the irruption in the municipal governance of forces such as the Broad Front\u2014especially the RD\u2014, independents and the Communist Party. In a historic act, the latter won the mayoralty of Santiago Centro, a woman from the PC being the new mayor: Irac\u00ed Hassler. Likewise, the triumph in the \u00d1u\u00f1oa commune of the RD Mayor Emilia R\u00edos and in Vi\u00f1a del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti also from the RD. What was achieved in these emblematic communes governed by the right for decades has been very significant because it is also about brand new female leaderships.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo taken by the author on the corner of Carmen and Curic\u00f3, in Santiago Centro, where the PC mayor Irac\u00ed Hassler has just won.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the governor level, things are a little more difficult but they point to an equally interesting irruption, of the 16 regions of the country, 4 women managed to become governors (25%).<\/span><\/p>\n

What these results show us so far:<\/span><\/p>\n