Candidates participated in Anatel’s last debate before the election

Less than a week before the presidential election, six of the seven candidates argued in the last debate organized by the National Television Association (Anatel). The event, organized by thematic segments, allowed the applicants to La Moneda to elaborate for 3.5 minutes on various topics, such as governance, economy, environment, freedom of education and abortion. Gabriel Boric, Sebastián Sichel, José Antonio Kast, Yasna Provoste, Marco Enríquez Ominami and Eduardo Artes participated in the debate. Franco Parisi, who is outside the country, was not authorized by Anatel to be telematically in the discussion. The moderators were journalists Constanza Santa María (TVN), Juan Manuel Astorga (Mega), Macarena Pizarro (Chilevisión) and Iván Valenzuela (Canal 13). Among the most significant moments of the debate, was the qualification of “Doctor Fear” by ME-O to Kast, and the response of the letter of the Republican Party on his statements regarding the Pinochet dictatorship, of which he said, were misinterpreted, because he assured that in them he pointed out that in 1989 a democratic election was held, not like the last elections in Nicaragua.The candidates were also confronted about the book “Nicolás tienen dos papás”, where all those consulted said they would approve that the text be delivered during their eventual governments, except for the letter of the Republican Party, José Antonio Kast, who recalled that he was an opponent during the debate on the book and assured that its delivery “violates the first educators who are the parents.” The letter of Apruebo Dignidad, Gabriel Boric meanwhile, assured about security, that in his government there will be “public order with respect to Human Rights”, while Eduardo Artes said that he would grant immediate freedom to the prisoners of the revolt. In economic matters, the candidates responded to what they think, they are the measures that cause greater uncertainty in the market, where Sichel responded on the one that his proposal does not propose to reduce taxes, and Provoste said that strengthening unionism can be one of the issues that cause greater fear to analysts and markets. At that point, the candidate of Republicans, José Antonio Kast said he did not know the trend GDP, which caused a placement of the letter of Chile Podemos Más, Sebastián Sichel, for proposing a growth of 5% without knowing the projection for the national economic rise. When addressing abortion, the candidate of Apruebo Dignidad, Gabriel Boric, was consulted about the complaint of harassment against him, to which the deputy responded that “I want to be very clear that I am available to any investigation” and assured that “I have never committed harassment and I have the duty to reflect on sexist comments that we may have committed in the past.” Kast, meanwhile, came to the step of his proposals to merge the Ministry of Women, which he defended, and said that in his government “we will support all women equally” when asked about the proposal of his program to grant greater facilities to married women when it comes to obtaining state benefits. At that time, the candidate asked the moderator, Macarena Pizarro, if she was married, to which the journalist responded and added that it was not relevant to the discussion. In environmental matters, meanwhile, the candidates addressed the energy matrix and at the point Kast assured not to be a denier of climate change and said that contrary to what his program indicates, he will not allow the installation of new thermoelectric plants. When asked about a decision regarding the Mining Company Dominga, all the candidates expressed opposition to the project, except José Antonio Kast, who did not directly answer the question and said that the figure of the “Council of Ministers” that directs environmental matters should be ended. In the final phase of the debate, the presidents addressed the electorate, and there was a impasse, after Marco Enríquez Ominami accused Boric of disrespect, whom he said, was laughing in the middle of his dialogue, which meant that ME-O had to restart his intervention. .

Original source in Spanish