Chilean presidential election

[Revy]

The second round is today. Chile's presidential elections are similar to France, two rounds, one with more candidates, and then whichever two get the most votes campaign in the second round.

The candidates are Piñera, who is right-wing conservative, and Frei, who is a social democrat.

Earlier, in the first round, socialist Jorge Arrate ran under the left-wing coalition Juntos Podemos Más and got 6% of the vote.

[Q]

If I'm not mistaken the social-democrats have been in power in the last few years. What have been their accomplishments?

[Tyrlop]

I think that the coalition's candidate is a christian democrat.
Remember that there are 1 million exile Chileans around the world that can't vote, and they are all leftist's. the coalition is between the socialist and christian party who are both very big, they share presidental candidate this means each election they get to choose the candidate, this year its the christians who has the candidate.

[Revy]

Piñera won, 51-48.
He is a billionaire.

[RadioRaheem84]

The Chicago Boy has won Chile.

[Sendo]

Well, can't be too surprised. When the cener-left accomplishes nothing, people swing to the right because they want to experiment. It's hard to radicalize people by saying the so-called left candidate wasn't left enough. It takes some political knowledge to know who's bluffing and who's sincere. South Korea had a similar episode with their pres. election couple years ago, and I'm sure the USA will have it happen with the 2012 elections or even the midterm elections this fall.

[Tablo]

It's hard for people to radicalize when they think Social Democrats are Leftist. Hope they realize their mistake.

[bajo.el.arco.del.sol]

I think that the coalition's candidate is a christian democrat.
Remember that there are 1 million exile Chileans around the world that can't vote, and they are all leftist's. the coalition is between the socialist and christian party who are both very big, they share presidental candidate this means each election they get to choose the candidate, this year its the christians who has the candidate.

Yes, Frei is a christian democrat. The concertación (the centre-left coalition that lost) is the concertación para la democracia, and was formed at the end of the Pinochet regime by all of the parties who were in favour of ending the dictatorship. It includes the socialist party, social democrats, christian democrats, and I think a few other small parties. The socialist party is now basically a social democratic party like you have in Europe, though in the past they were more left-wing than the communist party, which used to be quite reformist.

Part of why the concertación has been in power since the "return to democracy" is that they're the parties that are actually in favour of democracy, and people are understandably hesitant to elect pinochetistas. In the right-wing coalition that won, UDI is openly pro-Pinochet, though Piñera and his party claim to be more moderate. UDI has the majority of their deputies (what are they called in English - Senators? Legislative representatives in any case), so it remains to be seen whether UDI or RN will dominate.

[Q]

It's hard for people to radicalize when they think Social Democrats are Leftist. Hope they realize their mistake.

This is really a sectarian response. If the main choices are social-democrat or conservative for the presidential elections, then that's the context you have to work with. You can of course explain that the social-democrats have carried out rightwing politics over the years and that because of this a disillusion was created in the social-democrats. Because a viable left alternative didn't exist (it only got 6% of the vote in the first round), the choice was simple: continue the current politics or wager that the conservatives are somehow better.

Of course the conservatives are not better, but simply saying that the Chilean people are wrong for seeing the social-democrats as left only puts you outside of the debate. What is needed instead is an active engagement with working class activists on a basic level which includes, if applicable, the rank and file of the social-democracy. It is necessary to promote self-organisation of this layer outside of the control of the social-democratic bureaucracy. Only then can the Chilean working class build on an alternative.

The Chilean section of the CWI is currently involved in a new federal organisation on the left called MPT which strives to do exactly this.

[Tablo]

This is really a sectarian response. If the main choices are social-democrat or conservative for the presidential elections, then that's the context you have to work with. You can of course explain that the social-democrats have carried out rightwing politics over the years and that because of this a disillusion was created in the social-democrats. Because a viable left alternative didn't exist (it only got 6% of the vote in the first round), the choice was simple: continue the current politics or wager that the conservatives are somehow better.

Of course the conservatives are not better, but simply saying that the Chilean people are wrong for seeing the social-democrats as left only puts you outside of the debate. What is needed instead is an active engagement with working class activists on a basic level which includes, if applicable, the rank and file of the social-democracy. It is necessary to promote self-organisation of this layer outside of the control of the social-democratic bureaucracy. Only then can the Chilean working class build on an alternative.

The Chilean section of the CWI is currently involved in a new federal organisation on the left called MPT which strives to do exactly this.

I do not mean to sound "sectarian", but I do not see how you could consider my response as sectarian. I do not even consider Social Democrats a legitimate part of the left. I was saying that I hope they realize their mistake of voting for the Conservatives since, despite the lack of use the Social Democrats would be for the workers, they should be the better option.

[FSL]

The 51% of Chileans that voted for the right-wing candidate of course aren't all wealthy capitalists. Among the 48% of people that voted for the center-left candidate you'll certainly find some sections of the bourgeoisie (those that favoured a greater latin american integration, those depending on government contracts and increased spending etc). Working with the "rank and file of social democracy" thinking that's where the working class is, is as a general rule today wrong. Most center-left parties have completely crossed sides and workers voting for them are just as deceived as workers voting conservative. People on both sides need engagement.

[Cooler Reds Will Prevail]

Yes, Frei is a christian democrat. The concertación (the centre-left coalition that lost) is the concertación para la democracia, and was formed at the end of the Pinochet regime by all of the parties who were in favour of ending the dictatorship. It includes the socialist party, social democrats, christian democrats, and I think a few other small parties. The socialist party is now basically a social democratic party like you have in Europe, though in the past they were more left-wing than the communist party, which used to be quite reformist.

Part of why the concertación has been in power since the "return to democracy" is that they're the parties that are actually in favour of democracy, and people are understandably hesitant to elect pinochetistas. In the right-wing coalition that won, UDI is openly pro-Pinochet, though Piñera and his party claim to be more moderate. UDI has the majority of their deputies (what are they called in English - Senators? Legislative representatives in any case), so it remains to be seen whether UDI or RN will dominate.

I'm not sure what party (if any) Arrate is a member of, but he's well to the left of the concertación, and it was pretty exciting to see him appear out of nowhere. Plus his father was Miguel Enriquez, which is a nice bonus, though I suppose it doesn't really mean anything.

Comrade, you're confusing Arrate with Marco Enriquez Ominami... Arrate is an old school cat from the Socialist Party I believe.... Ominami is a young guy, and I think he's a socialist as well.

[bajo.el.arco.del.sol]

Comrade, you're confusing Arrate with Marco Enriquez Ominami... Arrate is an old school cat from the Socialist Party I believe.... Ominami is a young guy, and I think he's a socialist as well.

i certainly am, thanks!

[Crux]

La Concertación es responsable de la llegada de la derecha pinochetista al gobierno.

[Delenda Carthago]

do we know what the anarchist space of Chile(maybe the strongest in South America) says about the new pinosetian president?

[bajo.el.arco.del.sol]

do we know what the anarchist space of Chile(maybe the strongest in South America) says about the new pinosetian president?

A cursory glance at the stgo indymedia newswire looks like they're still working on the same issues they always do (indigenous rights, etc), and aren't terribly interested in which capitalist won the election.

They do have a statement in the centre column, which I'll translate roughly here. It will have been written by the santiago indymedia folk who are solid anarchists and very well connected to the anarchist community, in addition to being lovely people:

A new era, the same demands

According to the latest results, the new president of Chile will be Sebastian Piñera. After more than 50 years, right wing parties are returning to the presidential palace by means of an election.

The fear campaign organised by the concertación for the victory of Eduardo Frei - the lesser evil, according to naive people - accomplished little or nothing.

And as if the farce weren't already unsustainable, they dug their own grave by trying to pretend at the last minute that they were the representatives of democracy and of the left after 20 years of neoliberal policies in the economic realm and of repression and persecution in the political, combined with an ideological bankruptcy driven by themselves. And that's not even taking into account a candidate who was the cherry on the cake in this "defeat".

Now begins a new era on the institutional political stage, where the concertación will be in opposition. A new era of consensuses is beginning, as the ex-governing coalition owes several favours to the new coalition, principally in the corruption cases.

With this defeat of the concertación, they are facing a rather grey panorama, since they trusted so much in the neoliberal system, that now they don't even have any media outlets. By luck, they still have the Clinic [can someone help me on this - I remember the Clinic as being largely a political satire newspaper rather than a serious one... am I remembering wrong?], and in the Nation, they must be packing their bags.

On the other side, nothing has changed, the struggles continue being the same ones.

For those who put forward this "candidacy of fear", this new panorama signifies a defeat and a step backwards. For the rest of us, it is an opportunity to raise a new alternative, now without ambiguities, in which their betting on the eternal lesser evil has exposed the opportunists and hypocrites for what they are.

Here nothing is ending, it's just starting...