Just hours before the swearing-in ceremony and installation of the new parliament, the party benches, from the right to the left, agreed to elect Senator Álvaro Elizalde as the next president of the Upper House.
According to La Tercera, despite the fact that since November 2021 there was an agreement between the PS-PPD and the right to take turns in the presidency of the Senate and equitably assign both the composition and control of the legislative commissions, the senator’s nomination of National Renewal, Manuel José Ossandón, the efforts of the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency, Giorgio Jackson and the aspirations of the Christian Democracy, mortgaged the talks until Thursday night, where they managed to determine the decision on Elizalde.
Since the end of January, and taking into consideration the debate in the Constitutional Convention on an eventual end to the Senate and moving to a unicameral system, the senators of the UDI decided to make a strategic move and yielded the first year of the presidency to the Socialist Party, in view of that this coalition can influence between the conventionalists of his party and the Government of President Boric, to prevent progress or lessen the effects of ending the Upper House.
From the PS they had no objections to the appointment of Elizalde, because within his bench, he already had the support and they erected him as the favorite for the position. Despite this, the bet of the right was to avoid a clash, so they talked to RN to dismiss Ossandón’s candidacy for this year and asked the DC to soften his claims.
In this way and after two weeks of intense negotiations, it was possible to close the pact from the UDI to the PC. Once that agreement and the committees that were handed over to the Socialists for the first year were resolved, Elizalde received the unanimous support of the PS caucus to lead the Senate, for which reason the PS president will assume the front seat in an act prior to the official ceremony of change of command and then he must put the presidential sash on Gabriel Boric.
For the incoming government, the appointment of the presidency of the Senate is key, since they will have a parliamentarian aligned with their proposals, which will allow them to better deploy their legislative agenda. The year 2023, the second year of the Senate, will be assumed by the right UDI or RN. The 2024, will correspond to the PPD and the last year, 2025, again to the right.
