This Saturday, after several hours of discussion in the central committee, the Socialist Party (PS) ratified its position of presenting a single list of constitutional advisers for the elections on May 7. Distancing himself, in this way, from the decision of the Party for Democracy (PPD), who on the same day confirmed that they will go on a separate list of I Approve Dignity.
In the same instance, they also announced that former president Michelle Bachelet will assume the difficult task of leading an eventual unitary list of the forces of the ruling party. The announcement comes after a group of PS deputies, including Leonado Soto, asked the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to lead the list.
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– Why was the agreement reached to adhere to a single list of constitutional advisers?
– It seems to me that the Socialist Party is making a decision that is consistent with its history, with its government responsibility and, above all, with the advancement of our country’s progressive agenda. Today is the time to face the crossroads of appearing on one or two lists. The next electoral challenge is the Constitution. The Socialist Party opts for the usual path, the broad path of unity. I think there is no alternative. Those who today call for us to face the next constitutional election divided, those who call for us to confront each other and strengthen the differences between the two coalitions, will finally end up establishing a frontier of fire within the political and social base that supports the government of Gabriel Boric. Because in an electoral dispute it is evident and natural that differences are sought and discrepancies are amplified, errors and mistakes are magnified, and even the disqualification of one another is favored and encouraged and from there everyone ends up in the mud, there is only one step. And the best proof of what I am saying is that the lists have not yet been registered and Guido Girardi and Guillermo Tellier have already announced what the tenor of the campaigns will be: with this of the list of pardons versus the list of SQM. And I think that in this debate those who lose are always progressivism and the Chilean people.
–Could this mean giving up the alliances they had with the PPD?
–There are seven days left for the registration of the lists and there is still space for the unit. The PPD should especially consider how former President Michelle Bachelet, in an unprecedented act of generosity, decided to get involved in this campaign to write a good new Constitution for Chile, and made herself available to a single list representing all progressivism. And I imagine that this call should reach deep into all the collaborators that Bachelet had in the PPD and who worked loyally for her in all government posts, implementing the best policies that Chile has ever had. I think that the PPD should reconsider, analyze and mature a little more the decision that it is adopting.
How do you hope to convince the PPD to join?
–What we are going to do is what the Socialist Party has always done, promoting with an unwavering will the willingness of all to a single list. And we are going to seek dialogue with them, try to persuade them, give them good reasons why the path of confrontation between us, of defeating ourselves, will simply favor our adversary, the usual ones: the conservative right.
– What role do you expect former president Michelle Bachelet to play between now and May 7?
–The former president made a very generous gesture that we appreciate and of course we are going to invoke it in our conversation with the PPD. But everything that has to do with the negotiation on party lists is a task for the leadership of the Socialist Party, not for former president Bachelet. The board of directors headed by Paulina Vodanovic, of which I am a part, we are going to turn in the next few days to open the space of unity that today is being closed by decision of some. I hope that we can converge with our lifelong companions on the road and face this election together. Today this challenge is more urgent than ever, considering that this also has an effect on the stability and strength of the Government. It does not seem reasonable to me that someone says that they are going to support the Government or that they support the Government or participate responsibly in its management and are preparing for a dispute against the candidates with whom they share their daily work. That is something that does not make sense.
–If the ruling party is on separate lists, what consequences could there be within the cabinet? For example, Carolina Tohá is PPD and Ana Lya Uriarte PS…
–This is in development, but without a doubt if an electoral dispute is opened in the campaign to constitutional advisers, it will probably be replicated later within the debates and decisions of the Constitutional Council and perhaps in next year’s elections. A dispute scenario between the PPD and Socialism greatly weakens the management of their representatives in the ministries. It can also produce weakness in government management and increases the chances that the government program and the major reforms that we propose in pension or tax matters will find more obstacles than impulses.
–In the statement of the PS, they explained that “the decision to go on a unitary list is explained fundamentally by the need to face the growth of the right”, what consequences does it have for the left to reach the elections of constitutional councilors on separate lists?
–Without a doubt the division of progressivism and its fragmentation into various lists and a confrontation between us only favors the conservative sectors. If the day comes when separate lists are produced and the electoral dispute between us begins, the right will be in the front row applauding. They are strengthened before our division. They could probably consolidate a significant majority in the future Constitutional Council. In one way or another, the next Constitution is being put at risk with this decision, which is a short-term decision, but which several future generations may have to pay for.
