13) LEFT COALITION TAKES BIG LEAD IN CHILE ELECTION

 

PV Vancouver Bureau, with files from the Morning Star

 

            The second round of Chile's general election will take place on December 15, with the New Majority coalition of left parties looking to win both the presidency and control of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

 

            In the first round on Nov. 17, New Majority presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet fell short of the necessary 50% for victory, receiving 46% of the 6.6 million votes cast. She is far ahead of the top right-wing candidate, Evelyn Matthei, who received just 25%. Candidates for several other left and centre parties picked up about 16% of the total votes. The right-wing parties around outgoing President Sebastian Pinera suffered a crushing defeat, backed by only about one-third of the electorate.

 

            The elections followed massive social mobilisations since 2011, and growing calls for sweeping changes to the political system left by the Pinochet dictatorship. Issues of inequality and social injustice were prominent in the campaign.

 

            While the New Majority coalition did not achieve the number of seats necessary to push through constitutional changes alone, they did win a majority in both houses of parliament. In the Senate races, the New Majority won 50.5% of the votes, while the Right got 38%. If the second round vote goes as projected, the New Majority will have 58% of Congress members.

 

            With this majority, Bachelet ‑ a socialist, paediatrician and former political prisoner ‑ will have the power to implement key elements of her platform: a more progressive tax system, genuine educational reform, and reduction of Chile's huge income inequalities. But to legislate constitutional changes, the New Majority will have to negotiate with other parties.

 

            Chile's political left has been significantly strengthened within the New Majority. The Socialists won six extra seats in Congress, and the Communists doubled their representation to six seats, with most of their candidates winning high majorities.

 

            While Bachelet did not run on a platform for revolutionary social change, the left parties see the New Majority as a parliamentary force with institutional power to complement the huge mobilisations by workers, students, indigenous peoples, and other progressive movements. From their perspective, the Bachelet government can lay the basis for more democratic and socialist-leaning reforms in the future.

 

            Chilean student leader and Communist Party member Camila Vallejo backed Michelle Bachelet for president, and eagerly awaits education reforms. She has led millions into the streets since 2011, demanding the right to free education. Three other student leaders were also elected.

 

            Chile's educational system still fails families with poor quality state schools, expensive private universities, unprepared teachers and banks that make big profits on costly loans.

 

            But Vallejo is confident Bachelet's coalition will have enough seats in congress to effect change.

 

            "Given the result of the elections, we have a majority that allows us to make structural changes," Vallejo told a Nov. 21 news conference, together with Karol Carolia, another Young Communist student elected to Congress.

 

            "Social movements are pressuring many sectors that were not in favour of change before and that have now changed their mind," she said.

 

            Vallejo said the Dec. 15 run-off vote will be a major challenge to convince others to support the education reform that she fought for in the streets. But she predicts that Bachelet and her coalition will score a "huge victory."

 

            Responding to the argument that the New Majority coalition lacks the "super‑majorities" to change the dictatorship‑era electoral system and constitution, Vallejo replied, "Many sectors say we won't be able to makes these changes because we don't have the votes in congress, but we've learned that there's no limit to what the social movement can achieve."

 

(The above article is from the December 1-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)