With more than fifty delegates connected virtually from all over the country, the Party for Democracy (PPD) held today the second annual session of its national board, a collegiate party body, where regional authorities and leaders also participate, an opportunity in which an analysis of the last parliamentary elections was made, support for the presidential candidate in the second round and future projections in the new social and political context.
In her inaugural speech from the headquarters of the collectivity, the president of the PPD, Natalia Piergentili -together with the secretary general José Toro Kemp and the treasurer Yolanda Pizarro- made a heartfelt tribute to Antonio Leal, former deputy and former president of the Chamber, who died recently, and then analyzed the determined party support for Gabriel Boric in the runoff, once the results of the first round are known.
“The reason was only one: in the face of the risk and threat of a triumph of the extreme right, which puts at stake what was achieved during the years of government of the Concertación and the New Majority, and weakens democracy, this was the only decision we could take thinking about the common good of the country, and being aware and consistent with our history,” Explained Piergentili.
He added that “we agree with Gabriel Boric on the urgent need for profound transformations that allow less inequalities and injustices, consolidating a state that guarantees social rights, and a socio-environmental development of a new type. We also agree that these transformations must be carried out with governability, in social peace and tranquility for the people. (…) We also believe it is essential to create new forms of collaboration, where differences enrich decisions rather than make them impossible; to assume that agreements in politics are not only inevitable, but indispensable, even more so given the composition of the newly elected Congress.”
“I believe that, despite our differences with Apruebo Dignidad, time has put things in their place in terms of recognizing the clear advances in terms of economic growth, poverty reduction, human rights, health, environment, gender, education and freedoms, in which our Party was a protagonist in recent decades. By the way, we do not miss the inadequacies and errors, whose costs have been evident and painful, “said the PPD helmsman.
Finally, he stressed that “it is for this reason that if Gabriel Boric wins in the second round our efforts will be focused on Constructive Collaboration to the reforms in social and political matters that are carried out. That’s our commitment!”
Likewise, Natalia Piergentili valued that, despite the bad omens of some -around that the PPD would not have the minimum of votes and candidates elected to survive as a collectivity-, finally on November 21 a good result was achieved. “And I want to tell you, comrades, with great humility that we are here, with 7 senators, 7 deputies and 19 CORES, in addition to our mayors and councilors throughout the country. More than half a million people continue to trust us to represent their desires, their dreams, their delayed rights and the necessary reforms. Our efforts, our work, our convictions and our coherence must be directed to them,” he stressed.
“But beyond the legitimate satisfaction that gives us to remain a legal political expression, we must assume that we have stopped reflecting on what it means to be of the left in this era,” he criticized, adding that in “this new historical cycle that opens up drives us to move towards a decentralized, democratic and rights society, where the PPD must attend this new cycle giving an account of its history, of its innumerable contributions to the development of Chile, but also taking charge of the failures, errors and omissions. And in that deep reflection – and given the level of social fracture in which we find ourselves – there is no doubt that we must be actors of this era,” said the former Undersecretary of Economy.
Therefore, the president of the PPD asked the National Board “to initiate a process of debate and reflection on the future, to restart and promote a march towards a broad, democratic, green, feminist, regionalist and digital left, based on our convictions and renewed to respond effectively to the challenges of today’s Chile, so as to constituteto become a new political force that transcends the PDP and appeals to the social majorities.”
“That is why the invitation is to build, not only a new epic, but also a new ethic, which designs new institutional architectures, but above all that generates a new emotional connection with what happens around us beyond the figures. We must reconnect from the diverse and valuable life experiences”, concluded Natalia Piergentili.
