When Joaquin Lavin insists, repeatedly, that his name will be on the presidential runoff ballot, along with that of Daniel Jadue, he is correctly identifying the scenario that best suits him, because if it happens he will surely be the winner. In fact, any scenario in which the second-round vote bears the name of the communist candidate, ensures the victory of the opponent, be it Lavin, Sichel, Desbordes, Briones or Provoste.
In the genesis of the above conclusion is, from the outset, the profound anticommunism that is present in a very important part of Chilean society. This feeling, originated in the early twentieth century, promoted by sectors of the oligarchy and the Catholic Church and also fueled by the ignorance of broad layers of the population, reached its climax on the occasion of the presidential election of 1964, in which Eduardo Frei Montalva was the winner. In this election was used for the first time in Chile, and piecemeal, a “campaign of terror” with images in El Mercurio and other newspapers, of Russian tanks entering the Currency and priests facing the wall. Well, tanks did indeed enter La Moneda, not exactly Russians and only 9 years later. Christian Democracy played an active role in this campaign of terror. It is worth remembering this at a time when this party, which has been much less in recent years, is having a bit of a rough end, encouraged by Mr Orrego’s victory and Mrs Provoste’s rise in the polls.
Thus, given this almost atavistic anti-communistism, which is still present in an important part of Chilean society, the Communist Party has done well to always support left-wing governments from a rather secondary position. And it has always given very loyal support. In fact, during the short period of Popular Unity, it was the party that collaborated most with President Allende. Much more than his own party, the Socialist Party.
It is therefore highly risky for the Communist Party to carry forward and to the end, a presidential candidacy. Even more so if a center-left candidacy continues to take shape strongly, probably with Yasna Provoste. What happened in the recent second round of the gubernatorial election, specifically in the RM, allows us to foresee what will happen if candidate Jadue faces in the second round any of the options already mentioned, including Provoste. It goes without a long way to point out that the personality of the communist candidate does not contribute much either.
It is true that for the left a future presidency of the Constituent Convention (DC, PS, PPD) is a return to the 90s and a right-wing government is a return to the 80s. And it is also true that the exercise of pure and simple realism is often painful. But, as things stand, perhaps the best thing to do is to converge to a single candidacy of progressive forces, which obviously will not be able to go immediately for all the objectives and goals long postponed, but that could even avoid a presidential runoff.
In this exercise of real politik, we must also bear in mind that there is a second option to move more quickly in the realization of these postponed aspirations and that is the Constituent Assembly. For now, perhaps we should concentrate on articulating this single candidacy and forming a strong parliamentary primer.
The content of this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
