At dawn the agreement was ready between the Constituent Social Movements, the Constituent People, the Plurinational and Popular Coordinator and Reserved Seats. The name of María Elisa Quinteros emerged from this discussion and was presented to the political parties of the current opposition. The idea was that the name for the vice-presidency, in the meantime, was proposed by the communities and, in this way, achieve the longed-for and elusive consensus that was suspended at the table for a full day.
Thus, the first pair that sounded was Quinteros with Amaya Álvez. Then, María Elisa Quinteros and Beatriz Sánchez. The name of the former presidential candidate, yes, did not generate great consensus, as there were sectors that looked with resentment to support the Frente Amplio leader. The agreement began to become entangled and minutes before the first round the constituents were still talking. In the Social Movements they took for granted that both the FA and the PS would support Quinteros, however, that did not happen. This – according to some constituents who learned about the talks – because in the absence of support for Sánchez, the FA would have decided to go in the first round on its own, to be able to negotiate for the second, which finally never came. This, despite the fact that there are conflicting versions on the background.
Specifically, when it was thought that the votes did not give to unblock the issue in round one, the votes of Non-Neutral Independent (INN) moved the balance, along with that of the constituent of RN Luciano Silva. With these votes –especially those of INN–, the independents managed to bypass the parties and reach the presidency of the Convention. There were 79 votes that María Elisa Quinteros got, with one more over those she needed to achieve it, and with that the independents and the political forces that supported them were opened the way so as not to need to maintain an agreement with the FA and the PS, and explore new names for the vice presidency.
When the majority celebrated or simply went out to the courtyards of the former Congress, the constituents of the PS, FA and INN remained inside the Hall of Honor. The Frente Amplio and Socialists wanted little to say, there was tension, annoyance and also negotiations. The strategic move of Non-Neutral Independientes consolidated for them the option of reaching the vice presidency with Gaspar Domínguez, who finally also obtained the support of the Socialist Collective and the Broad Front, reaching 112 votes.
The hour of the accounts
Within the political forces they mutually endorse responsibility for this picture. Both constituents of the Socialist Party and the Broad Front assured that there was a consensus that the agreement would be finalized in the second round and not in the first, so that in the initial round they would bear testimonial names. The FA did it with Beatriz Sánchez and the PS with Roberto Celedón, who for his part voted for Quinteros. In fact, some members of that political space accused that with Non-Neutral Independientes they had the agreement to support Quinteros only in the second round, but that INN “went over the top” and put the votes in the first “to tie up the vice presidency.” .
At a press point, the Frente Amplio constituent Fernando Atria stated that “there was a lack of intelligence in the first vote. The first vote was going to be a vote in which each one was going to go separately and the agreement was made up for the second vote. It is in that understanding that we act, but we supported the Social Movements all day yesterday. “
Non-Neutral Independent Representatives, meanwhile, discard it. A member of this group emphasized that “the Broad Front, as always, changed its mind at the last minute” and raised Beatriz Sánchez, given the lack of agreements for the vice presidency.
Meanwhile, Marcos Barraza, a constituent of the Communist Party, stressed that “all the political forces that have a vocation for change within the Constitutional Convention” worked on the agreement. He added that “we understood that the other forces – the Socialist Party and the Broad Front – were going to vote for María Elisa Quinteros, so it is inexplicable that they have not done so.”
In the socialist-wide-frontist space, they dismissed that this situation ends up wearing down the “hinge” political space that they managed to build. They already have de facto agreements to probably choose a common name for a deputy vice presidency, which would be sponsored by INN.
The socialist mea culpa
“We had it all and we ended up with nothing.” This is how a member of the Socialist Collective described the moment of this election, recalling that there was an agreement for the PS to occupy the presidency and the FA the vice-presidency. The Socialists raised Ramona Reyes, questioned for irregularities detected by the Comptroller’s Office during her time as mayor of Paillaco. And although she was the favorite in the first rounds, the controversy and pressure from the FA militancy not to support her, ended up taking the floor away from her.
But some within the Socialist Party have already made the first self-criticisms, despite the fact that they hope to analyze the event more in depth as a group. One of the constituents of this bloc considered that “the responsibility for this failure is ours. It was stupid”, emphasizing that this flank of Ramona Reyes “was known” and, therefore, “it was an awkwardness” to lift it.
Both in the FA and the PS they have ruled out for now that this tense journey in the election of the new table affects their bilateral relations in the constituent process, where they know that they will be needed in the discussion of constitutional norms.
