From Santiago
Six days before the elections, the Chilean candidates participated in the last Presidential Debate broadcast on TV. Although “debate” is a generous adjective to a simple presentation of ideas, nervous laughter and some friction that ranged from sarcasm to papers with old printed tweets shown to the cameras for a few seconds.
The best exponent of this particular style of doing politics was José Antonio Kast of the far-right conglomerate Republican Party-Christian Social Front and who, according to the delegitimized polls – unable to get the latest elections right – would be the first majority in these elections. He left showing a Cuban flag in solidarity with the dissidents, then he showed tweets where Gabriel Boric of Social Convergence, belonging to the Broad Front and who together with the PC form the I Approve Dignity coalition, the second favorite, supported Fidel Castro.
So infuriating in his style – that, for example, he rejects gay marriage, although he claims not to be homophobic because he “has gay friends” – that Marco Enriquez Ominami (PRO) spoke of “Dr. Fear, ”without Kast even flinching.
Although he was also in trouble when the former minister of Sebastián Piñera, Sebastián Sichel, who is presented as Independent, but is the candidate of the ruling party He made him see how little he knew about economics by assuring that by lowering taxes a country could grow.
An exam without A’s
Two years after the “Agreement for Peace” that allowed the opening of the constituent process that will replace Pinochet’s Magna Carta, the only trace of the social outbreak of October 2019 that undoubtedly prompted this process was a protest by the relatives of the “prisoners of the revolt” who shouted for a pardon outside the TVN studios where the debate was taking place. This milestone was only cited by Boric and in the sense of “seeking agreements” to guarantee democracy. “Two years ago there were those who gambled for an agreement between people who thought differently to bring a constitutional process. That is leadership: sitting with those who think differently based on a common good ”, he said, speaking about himself.
Also Provoste, who joked about the abrupt changes of points of the Boric and Kast programs, when the first one cited pages that the other candidate began to search, sought to give a balanced speech that strongly reminded Bachelet – of whom she was minister in two terms – She became more serious rejecting any scenario of violence, but making a small wink to those who were protesting outside the channel. “Those who commit crimes will not have pardons. A different thing are those young people deprived of liberty without a fair trial ”. Eduardo Artés was more radical, justifying the barricades and violence.
Thus, from 8:00 p.m. and almost like taking an exam at the university – without arguing or getting angry either – each candidate simply offered an adjusted and corrected version of their programs, to which they added from the most extreme left Artés (Unión Patriótica), Sebastián Sichel, who presents himself as Independent but is the candidate of the ruling party of Piñera and Yasna Provoste (DC) of the Conglomerate Unit Constituent that includes the PPD, PS and Radical Party, the once successful former Concertation parties that ruled Chile for twenty years after the return to democracy in 1990. The only absent candidate was the economist Franco Parisi (People’s Party), who is in the US sick with COVID-19 and from whom, in truth, no one missed much.
Thus, Enriquez -Ominami for example warned about the special conditions of this Sunday: “I have always fought against conservatives, I have always been closer to responsibility than irresponsibility and no one in this room is going to be able to offer governance without agreements (… ) Next Sunday will be chosen who will go to the second round when facing Doctor Fear, José Antonio Kast, who has manipulated the election with proposals of fear and insecurity ”.
The aforementioned who said that “To all the Cuban people, we are with them. At some point, freedom will come for you ”and without taking charge of your pinochetism, made explicit this weekend before the international media, said that“ this is a debate of the present and the future ”.
Sichel, trying to hit Kast —who would smile at him that he has never won a seat in Congress— said that “Quoting Pinochet in the 21st century, in full democracy is a mistake” and recalled that he even voted against the “Cholito Law ”Enacted in 2017 that requires responsible pet ownership after the death of a stray dog at the hands of an unbalanced person.
The numbers favor Boric
Without clear favorites or large majorities, the only certainty is that there will be a second round. But also a fact that would favor the Boric option: in the primaries of Approve Dignity last July, where he faced the favorite Daniel Jadue (PC) he obtained 1,058,027 votes compared to the 692,862 of his contender.
The worn out Sichel, whose candidacy has been deflated in the campaign to give way to Kast, in the primaries of his sector on the same date, obtained just 659,833 compared to 461,482 of the favorite, Joaquín Lavín (UDI). Although some hold the theory that Boric’s success is due to the fear of having a communist as a candidate and that it caused the right-wing vote to go away from Lavín to the left-wing primaries, where the vote was free.
Boric, who was calm and without facing any candidate. Even towards the end, tempers warmed slightly, thanks to the impetus of Kast, who began to interrupt or not respect the time limits. Even when he was summoned for a complaint of alleged abuse in his years as a university leader – one of the fears of his team – he responded that “he is open to investigation” although he acknowledges that, as a man, even that is insufficient.
Maybe a clue to what will happen after Sunday, whatever the result, the union of the Chilean progressive left will be, as fragmented as it is transcendent in the process of changes in the trans-Andean country. “Enough kicking in the shins, we are going to need each other, let’s think about the things that unite us, because we have to offer a progressive alternative for Chile.”
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