A few days after the announcement of the first line of those who will accompany the elected President, Gabriel Boric, in the cabinet, concern has been installed in the center-left, since so far the approaches from the command of the future Government would not have gone from the symbolic to the concrete with certain circles of the sector. And it is that, beyond the commitment to place itself under the profile of “collaboratives”, in politics, although the signals are the ones that rule, with the passage of time the demands of grounding the word to the concrete also take on another type of relevance, as they have pointed out from different spaces, based on “recent experience”.
At the level of directives, there are no real resentments in terms of giving full support to the incoming government, for two main reasons. On the one hand, because Boric was his candidate in the second round and, on the other, because there would be more points of agreement with the program than discrepancies. So far everything perfect. The problem that has arisen is that, since it is impossible to guarantee the votes of an entire bench, the leaders of New Social Treatment understand that there are sectors that, like it or not, should be “done with another type of affection”, with you look at a complex path, considering that even adding the total votes of Approve Dignidad and the center-left, it is not possible to reach the simple majority barrier.
And the target is the Christian Democracy, a store that brings out hives in the political circle of Gabriel Boric, mainly in the parties that make up I Approve Dignity. It is a matter of remembering the accusations of treason that were heard on more than one occasion during the current government of President Sebastián Piñera, this after several withdrawals from the community when it was led by Fuad Chahin, in the face of the few agreements that the opposition reached at the time.
The most remembered are the votes that, against the grain of a transversal agreement of the opposition, were given to the pension reform proposed by the current administration. Added to that, the vote against the constitutional accusation against the former metropolitan mayor, Felipe Guevara, in the midst of the social outbreak, or the votes that were not in the constitutional accusation against the current President. The last one, the vote against the deputy Joanna Pérez who buried the free abortion project.
In I Approve Dignity, although they gave the President-elect a “free chip” to choose whoever he deems appropriate in the positions of greatest interest, it is known that from the beginning there is a view that “collides with reality”, and with the need real to build broad political support. This would specifically aim to prevent the installation of the Government from “smells like a former Concertación”, beyond all the signs given by Gabriel Boric himself, who has shown his willingness to sit down with everyone at the table.
In the political conglomerate that supports the elected head of state, they are clear that, at the level of signals, these have to be those of pushing the transformation agenda and representing their own electorate, who resent a very clear rapprochement with the DC itself, party on which they estimate that it represents “everything bad in the last 30 years.”
Some of this was hinted at by the representatives of the Comunes party, who yesterday had an appointment with the future President. On the occasion, the president of the store, Ka Quiroz, pointed out that “today, as the leadership of the Comunes party, we meet with the President-elect to mutually share directives and political guidelines of what we think the next Government will be (…) . In that sense, we are talking about this transformative project that we are building as Broad Front and I Approve Dignity, and how we inject it with a popular perspective.”
To which he added that “in the same way, as the leadership of the Comunes party, we once again made ourselves fully available for the construction of the next government.”
On both sides of the sidewalk they know the difficult balance between the signs and the real approaches from one side and the other, and the tension that is generated in this regard. And although from the DC the appointment that its president, Carmen Frei, held with the current deputy for Magallanes in the so-called “La Moneda chica” was very well read, since then to date there have been no major rapprochements with the phalanx, At least at the leadership level.
From New Social Treatment, and based on recent experience, they pointed out that the six votes of the Christian Democracy are more relevant, since any type of drop raises the difficulty of medium and short-term plans. It is because of what – although without making it explicit – they pointed out that, no matter how resentful the red arrow party is, there should be a “clearer sign of integration” from the presidential command.
In the DC, although they do not bet on being part of the Government, they indicate that at least they hope not to be left out of the parliamentary agreements, nor to feel “mistreated”. In this way, a “greater commitment” is generated, even among the most reticent.
The honeymoon with the PS
Relations between Approvebo Dignidad and the Socialist Party (PS) had deteriorated after the failed agreement for the joint presidential primaries, but the second round opened spaces to start rebuilding them. The PS was the first party to place itself at the disposal of President-elect Gabriel Boric, without conditions, and the first to open up to some of its militants arriving at La Moneda as ministers, if so required by the President who takes office in March.
Maya Fernández and Carlos Montes were the first socialists to join the coordination of Boric’s command, and those who sound like possible ministers. Fernández gave her support before the second round, when her party’s candidate was Yasna Provoste. It is part of the “dissent” to the current directive, and for some militants it will be important to see if only figures from that sector of the PS are incorporated or signals are also going to be given towards the “official” sector, since they recognized that some tension I could add to the internal.
One of the options to balance the gestures towards the PS is that the current president of the community, Álvaro Elizalde, join the weekly Political Committee that governments usually do and where the parties that support him participate. Senator Montes, who attended “La Moneda Chica” yesterday, raised it as one of the options on the table.
“One of the dimensions is, without a doubt, some ministers. Another possibility is that the president of the party is present in the weekly political committee, which is a specific way of participating and that has been used on other occasions,” Montes pointed out.
In the Socialist Party they agree, from all sectors, that they hope that the Government that will take office considers them, listens to them and respects them, and that these approaches are not empty or symbolic signs, but rather of a real interest in incorporating the socialist vision .
In any case, at the level of the directive, in the PS they affirmed that they will keep their word of collaborating without conditions, whether or not they have representatives in the cabinet, and that they trust in turn the promised word of the President-elect Gabriel Boric, of include them in the work.
From the Parliament there are also other views, such as the mirror effect that the incorporation of the PS as a government party (outside Approve Dignidad) will have.
In the bench of deputies and deputies of the community, they detailed that I Approve Dignity has already begun to take the first steps towards coordination, requesting a list of the most relevant legislative issues. Some mentioned the issue of education (free and non-profit) as one of the central ones. In this scenario, several deputies stated that they consider it a relevant signal from the future government and that the relationship in Congress will run on a separate track from the institutional relationship.
However, other parliamentarians believe that the institutional relationship will have a mirror effect in Parliament. A socialist deputy emphasized that “symbolic positions, symbolic support”, that is, if socialist ministers are incorporated, but without including them in the debates, it is likely that this will be reflected in the agreements in Congress. “Of course it is going to have effects, the Socialists could feel freer when it comes to voting,” pointed out another parliamentarian.
For now, if it is about signals and joint work, the Socialist Party has a total advantage over its peers, who continually remind themselves of the commitment adopted in the different appointments of the New Social Deal, and that consists of remaining united. This, as the only way to survive at the sector level and have a degree of relevance, with a view to the next four years.
