There are three lists that this Sunday, January 23, will compete to lead the Christian Democracy (DC), in a period that will be complex but key to clarifying the course that the party will take, with the installation of the Government of President-elect Gabriel Boric, the attempts in Parliament to generate majorities and, also, because whoever wins will lead the Ideological Congress where the DC must define its course and with whom it will establish alliances in the future.
That is why several Christian Democrat militants stated that these elections are among the most relevant in recent years, although they are also the most tense, the most tense and “dirty.” And that, they say, is in evidence with the extraordinary National Council that will take place two days after the elections, on January 25, via telematics. Although it is post-results, the tension was installed before regarding the contents, since the table includes the controversy over the Servel audit on unpaid expenses and, likewise, the dismissals made to workers without compensating them.
According to the table, the first point is a political account, which will kick off the two substantive issues. Point 2 is the “situation of funds pending surrender delivered to comrades David Morales and Rogelio Zúñiga (35 million pesos),” general secretary of the phalanx and the former financial administrator, respectively. Specifically, it is about money that does not have backing, which includes travel expenses and other expenses.
The third point in the table is the situation of layoffs, referring to the dismissal of workers under the concept of “fortuitous event or force majeure”, which does not include the payment of a month’s notice or compensation. On January 12, Ximena Gutiérrez, Ignacio Ortega, Rosario Hernández and Constanza Zegarra were notified by the current administrator, Guillermo Herrera, of their dismissal under this cause. The summons specifies that they will listen to the opinion of labor experts, analyze the “ethical, political and public image consequences of the illegal dismissal of 4 DC officials”, while awaiting an open discussion and the pronouncement of the National Council on the matter. .
The crossfire and the electoral background
The three lists that compete on Sunday are the one led by the former president of the Christian Democratic Youth (JDC), Diego Calderón; the one headed by the deputy Joanna Pérez, current third vice president of the DC; and the one led by Felipe Delpin, mayor of La Granja and second vice president of the store. These last two are the ones that have seasoned this Council and have been launched with crossed accusations about the interests behind the points on the table.
Most agree that it will be a tense Council. “There is an atmosphere like the balls, something like this hasn’t been seen for years,” said a community leader, while a parliamentarian stated that “here there is going to be and there is already a dirty war, they take out their rags in the sun, they take out their eyes. It’s obvious that each side is trying to get their electoral cut, but I wonder how much this helps an already bankrupt party.”
The crossed accusations have been installed since day one, and facing this extraordinary Council, and even from outside those lists, they believe that the points are to make the tie: they point out that the Delpin sector (where Yasna Provoste is also) He was the one who pushed the idea of installing the review of the $35 million not surrendered by the secretary general, David Morales, and the former administrator Rogelio Zúñiga, who already in July began to be questioned for “little transparency” and delay in the delivery of the financial statements to Carmen Frei, who assumed the leadership of the party.
Morales is reapplying for the position of general secretary on the list of Joanna Pérez, vice president and also treasurer of the party, and to whom they point out as part of the most responsible for the Silvers and surrenders objected by the Servel. From said list they assure that the Electoral Service made 38 observations to them, but that last year there were 70 and they managed to lift and correct them, and that given the pandemic it was “more difficult” to have all the documentation, for which they directly accuse an “operation election” from their contenders. In fact, from there a militant accused that the current administrator, Guillermo Herrera, “doesn’t bother to look for the background to raise these objections and dedicates himself more to doing political work and delaying.”
In any case, there are those in the DC who are considering going to the Supreme Court and to justice, if necessary, for the money.
On the other hand, those who support Delpin’s list stressed that their contenders were the ones who “wanted to tie” and raised the issue of the dismissal of 4 officials, on which they defend that it was done for financial reasons, “to cover up the mess they have with the silver”. However, in the environment of Pérez’s list they accused that they are officials who arrived at the DC when Fuad Chahin arrived, so it was a way of holding him accountable.
Some members of the table charged that the president of the community, Carmen Frei, ordered the dismissals without consulting the rest of the board and that she opened the door to lead the community into “a swamp” of the Labor Law and her image in front of to the workers, by the DC.
All sectors agree on one thing: that Sunday’s elections will be tense, the most unfriendly, and that they could deepen the open wounds that the Christian Democrats still have inside.
