Alejandro “Pacha” Sánchez, campaign manager of the opposition candidate Yamandú Orsi, accused the government of acting with “little tolerance” by firing Björgan after her public support for the Frente Amplio candidacy.
“The National Party has feigned insanity, they say they don’t know him when they had him responsible for the security negotiations,” Sánchez said at a press conference. In addition, he highlighted the career of Björgan, who worked in various positions alongside historical figures such as Wilson Ferreira Aldunate and Carlos Julio Pereyra.
According to Orsi, Björgan’s dismissal is a symptom of the lack of dialogue in the country: «One of the people who decided to support our candidacy was expelled, she was fired from the job she had. “We are off to a bad start if we think that a country has to dialogue.”
Sánchez recalled that Björgan, a “proudly white man,” decided to support Orsi because “in the runoff, parties are no longer voted on but formulas are voted on.” The senator accused the National Party of limiting plurality and freedom of expression among its ranks, arguing that “there are leaders who believe they are the owners of the votes, but the votes belong to the citizens.”
The controversy also highlights the phenomenon of personal adhesions in second round elections, where Sánchez recalled that figures such as Björgan and the former Colorado candidate Zayda González, without joining the Broad Front, have decided to support the Orsi and Cose formula.
