Everything indicates that the National Party is beginning to lick its wounds after the Broad Front defeated them with an abysmal difference of more than 100,000 votes, with voters fleeing from the allied parties in the Republican coalition. The process of self-criticism that is approaching in the PN seems to begin to take shape, although it is not yet publicly recognized as such and other words are used for it.
This initial impulse materialized in various assemblies held in Montevideo on Monday, one day after the runoff that returned the national government to the Frente Amplio, with Yamandú Orsi as elected president and Carolina Cosse as vice president. Are they willing to be self-critical or will they blame others? What will happen to the PN and the right-wing coalition from now on?
Self-criticism or simple analysis? The PN debates what to do after the defeat
In one of the meetings, specifically that of list 40—belonging to the Alianza País sector, which has four senators and nine deputies—the leaders of the group presented their vision on the type of opposition that both the National Party and the government coalition starting March 1, when Yamandú Orsi of the Frente Amplio assumes the presidency. This position is different from the one that Álvaro Delgado had presented in his speech on Sunday, which offered Orsi governability and cooperation so that the government can deliver the best of itself, in pursuit of a better Uruguay for all citizens equally. .
The senator-elect Sebastian Da Silva He began his intervention by stating that the current government of Luis Lacalle Pou will deliver to the Frente Amplio “a Ferrari with new tires,” thus expressing his concern about the capacity that the left will have to handle the situation. He called to take care of the freedoms achieved, warning that they will be ready to defend them if they are threatened, a defense that they will do with a “spur of gold and silver.” ““If they take away our freedom,” he continued, “we will have to have our boots ready and start.””.
Once again, Da Silva sees the unions as an enemy: Although he stressed the obligation to respect the will of the majority of the people, who opted for the left, he added that “we are not going to allow the unions to come in through the window and try to govern our affairs either.”
Regarding the defeat, Da Silva emphasized that the suffering of having lost—“they defeated us fair and square,” he asserted—implies the urgent need to understand the factors that led the Republican Coalition to a loss of more than 100,000 votes. a fact that he considered unexpected. He noted that it is essential to investigate why the Frente Amplio saw significant growth in certain areas, questioning the lack of understanding about the phenomenon.
The “pain” of defeat and the reconstruction of the downtrodden PN
For his part, the former minister of Defense Javier García He recognized the “pain” of the electoral defeat and the need to analyze the errors committed, although he established that this analysis will be carried out at a later time. He stressed that it is crucial to accept mistakes in order to correct course.
García also highlighted that, according to his interpretation, the citizens have left a clear message: There are a million Uruguayans who supported the republican coalitionwhich gives them a fundamental role in democratic life: that of exercising opposition.
Finally, García qualified Delgado’s message, differentiating between offering support and confusing roles: “We are the opposition, we are not the government”. This approach reaffirms the position of the National Party in the face of the new political reality.
