translated from Spanish: Municipal: open invitation to stop the advance of the right

time in opposition have, s in doubt, other than our recent political past readings, Diagnostics, somewhat different from the present and approaches similarities and differences of the future that we want, but we must agree on the need to prevent that you consolidate our country forward cultural, social and political right, with implications for Chile in terms of the strengthening of the rule of the market and weakening of the responsibility and capacity of the State, in terms of economic concentration and inequality, advance paternalism and the charity at the expense of social and economic, in the technocratic predominance on citizen participation, in the stagnation and decline in the process of increasing freedoms and rights rights individual and social. This, in an international context that reinforces more and more that way. Why we must react in time, until it is too late.
By the way the challenge today for the various political actors of opposition is to grow, redefining and affirming their respective identities, is updating its own programmatic proposals in dialogue with the people and, ultimately, to compete democratically by the leadership of the opposition seeking to represent growing swaths of citizenship.
Although we have many current and potential spaces of encounter, the Frente Amplio and the political parties that participated in the Governments of the Concertación and the new majority represent different future alternatives that will compete democratically by the popular in the next presidential election support. Of that there is no doubt.
There is, however, a crucial difference between the upcoming presidential election of November 2021 and the election of mayors of October 2020, which is that the first allows most social and political to be expressed in a second round, while mayors can be elected even if they represent a minority of the public split, when the majority is dispersed among several alternatives.

Since separated the election of the Mayor of the town councillors, the first became a referendum not only municipal management but largely also of the current Government. The four elections that have taken place in Chile with election of mayors in separate ballot (2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016) have thus become the best predictor of the presidential election, which takes place just 13 months later.
The political sector that advances in terms of population locally governed and number of mayors, subsequently wins the presidential election. Thus it happened in 2004, the breakthrough of the Coalition at the communal level paved the way to Michelle Bachelet in 2005; the same thing happened in reverse in 2008 with the subsequent triumph of Sebastián Piñera, and the triumphal return of Bachelet and Piñera were preceded by two triumphs of their respective sectors in the election of mayors.
It is evident that right, although it continues to be minority, be able to defend their good result in mayors of 2016 and even improve it if confronted with a scattered opposition in more than one alternative mayoral. It is always more complex than the simple aggregation of figures, but if we repeated data from the election of Deputies with candidates to Mayor of the broad front and what used to be the new majority, the right has guaranteed a result even better than in 2016. And if the dispersion is similar to the of the three lists parliamentary opposition, the result in mayors would be more catastrophic even.
Everything would be different if the election of Mayor required absolute majority, as it is the case in other single-Member election, which is the presidential. Unfortunately, that road is closed, because making a required quorum of constitutional law and we will not have any official vote to facilitate the task of the opposition.
Also must plane discard the path of electoral bargaining, one in which the political directions of the various sectors built a kind of Pact by default, defining for each of the 345 communes of the country to what industry and party you corresponds to present a candidacy for mayor. Replace citizens in its decision through cupulares arrangements would severely damage back potential citizen.
The best way possible – and only depends on us – we deliver the decision to citizens of each commune so you can choose the sector political, party and candidate or candidate of opposition that best interpret the. Constituting the 8 April 2020 before the Servel a Pact of primary, indicating the list of communes where would take place and their respective nominations.
What we propose is legal primary open to register in all the communes where most of one party opposing this candidate. This will allow us to advance the municipal campaign in 6 months, mobilize the opposition discuss face people commitments of municipal management and give them legitimacy citizen for all candidates. This applies both to the communities where we are confronted with pro-Government mayors, as for today those governed by mayors and mayors of opposition, reducing to the minimum the risk of spreading opposition. The general principle is that all leadership must compete for the representation of all the opposition in the election of Mayor.
If we now take the decision of forming a Pact of primaries to choose this way for all candidates to Mayor of the opposition, we will put a defined period and a precise horizon for the deployment of our respective communal leadership. A broad primary opposition Pact will enable deal right with one ticket in each commune, significantly increasing our option to defeat it.
The necessary and legitimate competition for the leadership of the opposition camp is expected some months and is at issue 7 June 2020, date in which all parties and independent Covenant primary subscribers are disabled to present candidates and the winner of the day happens to be the candidate or single candidate of opposition in your community.
Analysis and proposal applies to the election of regional governors, though tempered by the existence in this case of a run-off if no one manages to exceed 40% of the votes in the June 7 election.
Competition for the opposition leadership and the identity of sectors and parties, remains fully valid and in fact is expressed in the choice of Councillors, where every political sector will resolve sovereign how many and which lists of candidates they register before Servel on July 27.
We have very little chance of winning the local government communes governed today by right if we compete separated, that is a fact. Even we would risk losing, at the hands of the United right, some of the communes governed by mayors from the opposition today. If, on the other hand, do primary opened in all the communes and face the choice of mayor with a single nomination of all the opposition, we assure the election in the vast majority of the 157 communes governing mayors of opposition today and we can aspire to conquer some of the 148 today governed by the right, particularly large urban communities that would lose the privilege that holds today govern locally more than half of the population to this sector.
What we are proposing, in sum, is to compete democratically and face people with our respective leaderships and proposals to make herself, June 7, 2020, into a compact convergence opposition without exclusions for the election of mayors, which determination in Primary is the alternative opposition that better identifies it and represents in each commune of Chile.
This way, of course, does not guarantee victory in the municipal of October 25, 2020, but opens us a choice, which will certainly depend on our respective capabilities in tune with the demands and dreams of the people. But if we are resigned to the dispersal of opposition votes in two or more candidates to Mayor, or try a cap of last-minute bargaining, the dismal failure against the right is fully guaranteed, and therefore drastically reduced the mutual options to defeat her in the presidential race.

The content poured into this op-ed is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not reflect necesariamen you the editorial line nor the counter position.

Original source in Spanish

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