Chile: the presidential primaries and prospects
ByCamilo Parada OrtizYMartin Miranda, anticapitalist movement – LIS Chile
The results of the presidential primaries in Chile leave multiple elements of analysis that will undoubtedly be further explored in the days that follow.. Far from the interested media headlines that celebrate the result as a strengthening of the political center and the defeat of “the extremes,” we propose to frame this result in a more complex and dynamic situation that has not yet written its last words.
Some data: This primary election has been the most popular in the brief history of primary elections in Chile, Votoron 3.143.006 people, surpassing the primaries of the 2013 where they voted 3.007.687. The votes were distributed percentagewise in a 56.5% for the pact I approve Dignity, what corresponds to 1.750.889 votes and a 43.3% for Chile Let's go, corresponding to 1.343.892 suffrages. Within this context, the triumphant candidate of the parliamentary left of the Approve Dignity pact, Gabriel Boric, exceeds one million votes, like Michelle Bachelet in the primaries of the 2013. On the right side, we can say that the winning candidate, Sebastian Sichel, concentrated 659.862 votes, less than second place in the Approve Dignity primaries, the candidate of the Communist Party, Daniel Jadue, what he took out 692.862 suffrages.
They celebrate the “markets” while Dignidad Square is empty
It is evident that the result of the primaries provides a respite from the hectic electoral and political landscape of recent months.. The least strident options, fewer “extremes” emerge as winners and this is particularly interesting for the political regime in the case of the Approve Dignity primary, Boric, The “young man who climbs the tree” is the same one who in the worst moments also knew how to climb the table on the right to save the regime of the 30 years. An architect of moderation and dialogue, that is to say, a guarantor that little or nothing changes.
Gabriel Boric represents the Frente Amplio project that has managed to overcome internal crises, positioning yourself in that walk, towards moderation and defense of institutionality, with nods to the former Concertación, allowing repressive laws to be voted on in the midst of a revolt, what led to Boric's victory?? The hypotheses are several and overlap or combine: Jadue's poor performance in the debates, a strip of the PC in a very internal key and from an aesthetic of defeat and suffering that failed to convey a message of the changes that emanate from the streets, right-wing voters and those from the concertationist environment who voted for the FA candidate.
It may interest you: Jadue – Boric Debate. Speeches, facts and limits
This does not mean that Jadue was an extremist, beyond the presentation that the media gave it, his program involved few radical transformations, his career at the head of the Recoleta mayor's office and that of his party as supporter of the regime of the 30 years, leave little doubt about it. But reality is more than abstract definitions and the regime's fears were rooted in the combination of a dynamic political situation with strong anti-regime expressions and the emergence of new popular references., with the emergence of a communist candidate, in the polarization with a battered right could be bad news.
None of this happened, Boric won without a doubt with the participation of the social base of the political center, intervening strongly in the face of the lack of its own alternative due to the space crisis and the open question about whether the former Concertación goes out with everything to contest or bows to Boric's candidacy; as those involved themselves have said, sopaipillas in between, the programmatic differences are minor.
Election photo shows high turnout, Compared to other primaries, it is the one with the highest vote in recent history. Above 3 million votes between both conglomerates, of which one million six hundred thousand votes were for Apruebo Dignidad and the rest for Chile Vamos. Boric prevails internally and at the same time garners a million votes, emerging as the most voted in the entire election, quite far from Sichel, victorious in the right-wing campaign.
that photo, which gives a certain calm to the markets, does not necessarily reflect the film of a country with a constitutional convention in progress and a political life much more dynamic than that of a primary, This scenario is completed with a photo of the Plaza de la Dignidad empty and without celebrations..
Chile Vamos increases its concerns
Sichel won inside the right, hitting Lavín and Desbordes and leaving Briones far away. His candidacy shows a liberal and friendly face to hide his place as a representative of the most concentrated part of the business community.. Banker, Piñera official and disguised as an independent outsider, will have the challenge of capturing the traditional right-wing electorate tempted by Kast and the center with an abundance of options. Not to mention that the primary generated even more tensions within the conglomerate and it is not clear that all sectors comply with the premise of accompanying the winner.. In this sense, The process within this conglomerate has more to do with internal renewal than with the real dispute for the government in the next elections., Nevertheless, In politics it is not possible to rule out any scenario.
In perspective: create an alternative from the people
The results put the focus on neo-reformism on the one hand and on the other on a renewed center-right, that is, in the maintenance of agreement policies, pacts, and gradual changes that do not scare the sacred market.
The communist demon, how the media painted it, He was rather seen as a moderate and part of the regime of the 30 years by broad sectors of working people and youth who were not at all enthusiastic about his proposal, especially with their actions during the health and economic crisis where they voted for initiatives to take care of business interests to the detriment of the working majorities with the Employment Protection Law, Rather, they have their sights set on the possibility that the new popular and independent political phenomena that emerged in the constituent fight can be strengthened and advance.
It may interest you: Open letter: Let's organize the constituent force to transform everything
This perspective gains strength in this situation, establish a political reference that reflects this transformation process in a more profound way, We promoted this perspective in our open letter after the constituent elections., explaining that beyond one's own choice, What was opening up was the possibility of building a new transformative force in the country, joining forces from the anti-capitalist left, the social movements and of course the People's List. The stage, a few days before registration for the November general elections, implies the need for a broad appeal, unitary and urgent to all these sectors to come together in a common space that allows us not to squander the force that has been expressed in the streets for months and to offer an alternative outside the regime of the 30 years with a program to break with it and the profound transformations that we need.
The living forces of the revolt today, more than ever, can raise a left-wing and independent alternative., in a huge space that is disputed, and that the PC reaching out to the FA and insisting on presenting itself as the neo-reformist reference. We can move forward with full class independence, of the 30 years, of possibilism and its professional politicians who give continuity to the model, humanizing an ecocidal capitalism that cannot stand reforms and let's open together the different anti-capitalist expressions that exist in our country, but also class feminism, to revolutionary dissidents, social movements that oppose cooking, the territories that fight against the plundering and plundering of common goods.
From the Anticapitalist Movement we bet with everything on this perspective, We call to abandon the sectarian calculations of sectors of the left and the doubts and call for a great meeting to advance in a unitary manner. Let's not delegate, let's not give up the strength that the people have expressed in recent history. It is possible to transform everything, Let's get to work to achieve it.
