The first debate, of three committed, prior to the presidential primaries of Chile Vamos, had as a common denominator to disown the government, not to mention President Pinera, and to demonize the possible endorsement of the head of the second floor, Cristian Larroulet, to one or another competitor.
The case took place in the context of the recent defeat in the RN elections of Mario Desbordes, which as a side effect, not only affected his candidacy politically, but also went on to carry that of the UDI candidate, Joaquin Lavin, who was his partner in this race. Added to that, he fed the electoral sustenance of his closest competitor, Sebastian Sichel, to whom from the new board headed by Francisco Chahuán, they definitively opened the doors from inside the store.
In about two hours of the debate broadcast by CNN Chile and Chilevisión, the best-looking candidate according to the polls, Joaquín Lavín, did not hesitate to speak to the more traditional right, pressured by his party, the UDI, who gave him more clarity in the definitions than his internal electorate.
In this way, he did not move from his way of understanding the marriage between a man and a woman, he opened himself to agreeing with Republicans and with regard to the conflict that is being experienced in La Araucanía, his response was directed to a deficit in the equipment of the Carabineros. That, after having greeted in mapudungun.
In the case of Mario Desbordes, and with the defeat of the inmates in tow, he sought to close the flight of potential voters of his party to the figure of Sebastián Sichel, whom he “took to the dance” on more than one occasion. He reminded him that he has been active in more than one party, trying to give in his waterline that is to be the only independent, he pointed it out as the factor that broke the internal fair play, he reminded him that there is a branch of the State Bank in La Pintana, and before the accusation of the former Minister of Social Development that he knew that two blocks from his house they sold drugs , he asked him if he had made the complaint.
For his part, Sichel did not leave his script that has him according to the polls, in second place, behind Joaquin Lavin, and with the doors open in RN. In this way he reiterated on several occasions his biography, which points to the effort, to move forward – a script that the sector loves -, added to the derogatory treatment towards the power that he considers the political parties have.
In the case of the Evópoli candidate, the only one who presented himself with a tie, he sought to reinforce the identity that he would be the one who best represents an antipopulist institutional profile. In any case, they accused him of having been against the withdrawals of 10 percent in his position as finance minister, and having celebrated the 65 thousand pesos of the first IFE, which the other candidates understand, is his weakest point.
During the debate there were episodes of greater tension such as when Briones questioned Sichel and asked him: “Do you think it is loyal to your team to say that others did not want to move forward, on the issue of social aid?”. The answer was almost automatic: “I ended up leaving the cabinet, so the question is answered alone. I do not agree with having delayed the deliveries in exchange for a political agreement that, according to what we discussed at that moment, was going to stop the explosion,” the former social development minister said.
The appearance of the name of La Moneda’s most influential advisor, Cristián Larroulet, also gave way to a meeting in the first part of the broadcast, between the candidates Mario Desbordes and Sebastián Sichel, regarding the support that each candidate represents and that in the case of the former president of BancoEstado, have been linked to the government advisor and the business groups.
“That’s a caricature, I’ve always been center and liberal,” Sichel defended himself, ruling out any hint of closeness to Larroulet. He told interviewers that “so many years of Lavin’s friend and now they charge me. I am not going to accept that there are politicians who say that you are supported by this or that politician. I’m not going to say who the other candidates support, they’ll say it.”
The phrase did not seem correct to Desbordes, and in response to Sichel, he said that these disqualifications are part of the “old policy” of assigning particular names to younger presidential candidates.
“The disqualifications come from Sichel, he came out fought from the parties where he was and that phrase of the old politics that it seeks to disqualify, to say ‘I am the unclean one’. If you Google you will find a high level of insult from candidate Sichel and his team,” Desbordes said, noting that “Larroulet I do not demonize, but he is closer to Freedom and Development.”
All this framed in the worst electoral moment of the sector, which suffered four defeats out of four possible, and that have questioned whether or not there is a real possibility of being left out of the presidential runoff, as happened in the election of the regional governor of the RM.
