Represented by Lilian Samaniego, Blanca Ovelar, Ramón Retamozo, Juan Afara, Arnaldo Franco and Enrique Bacchetta, the new independent ANR bench is presented, exposed as the one that will determine different aspects within the Senate.
“We do it with the intention of being protagonists of new issues and of having the necessary independence,” Samaniego explained when giving the announcement in the plenary session of the Upper House. However, what truly alternative interests will the bench propose?
According to the political analyst, Milda Rivarola, this presentation constitutes a very Paraguayan political trick, since the benches serve to relate to the head of the Executive when a bill is generally wanted to pass. “The banks should respond to the party boards, as in other countries. If a list is presented, the parliamentary members must respond exclusively to that list, a fact that never happened here ”.
Milda rivarola
For this reason, Rivarola explained that usually to pass a bill in Parliament, negotiations are done with the heads of the benches and logically, to get more votes, it is very convenient to speak with 5 heads, rather than just one.
“Thus we see that the parties within Parliament live off bancaditas and it is not due to an ideological question, but because more is gained by having many small bosses at the time of negotiation rather than an exclusive one,” the analyst determined.
In this way, far from envisioning a true alternative within the Senate, with the new bench presented by Lilian Samaniego, the need to always be in power is observed, preparing to negotiate the establishment through all convenient sources. of a particular interest.
“The small groups are simply presented as a way to better negotiate with power, which in the end takes away the meaning of the existence of a liberal and red group, if they are to be subdivided into other coalitions,” Rivarola said.
The analyst went on to say that, as this act was not punished, as in other countries, it was established within the Paraguayan political endeavor because it worked and continues to do so, thus internalizing party indiscipline, also partially damaging the institutional development of political parties.
Pilar Callizo
MORE NEGOTIATION
“Within the system of representation, it seems to me that the new aspects established within the political parties of Congress are often carried out for a political and electoral ambition rather than for any other reason,” underlined the lawyer and political analyst, Pilar Callizo.
Then, the professional mentioned that the level of difference that can be found in the new conformation of the bench presented by Samaniego should be studied. However, taking into account the history of preference for particular decisions of the majority of the members of the aforementioned caucus, the coalition has already shown that it is not very independent from any of the main groups in Congress.
“At the moment when some of its members say that they support the candidacy of Hugo Velázquez, you can already see the marked line of the bench, when they should be absent at least to generate a slight credibility of their independence,” said the analyst.
Callizo categorizes it as a fallacy to say that a new bench can come to present itself as a true alternative, since being immersed in a situation of dependency previously, it would be difficult to expect something different with the new coalition.
“In the end they end up conforming to get the necessary votes when presenting certain projects. The independence that they claim to have in reality is very little credible due to their repetitive actions within the Chamber, ”said the expert.
