By Satyaki Chakraborty
Chilean Communist Party which is an important part of the coalition headed by the newly elected president Gabriel Boric is holding its next party congress in April this year amidst great expectations among the Chilean people about the transformation of the Chilean economy and society as promised in the election manifesto before the presidential elections last November.
CCP has a great record in fighting the fascist Pinochet regime after the coup held by the army leaders in 1973 ousting the Socialist President Salvador Allende who headed a coalition with the CCP and came to power through elections. In 2021 presidential elections, CCP worked hard to unite the leftwing forces behind the presidential nominee Gabriel Boric and helped in drafting the manifesto which created big enthusiasm before the poll and helped in bringing into left fold many of the centrists who sided with the far right candidate Antonio Kast in the first round of elections.
The CCP leadership is aware that winning elections is one thing but the task of governing a vertically divided country like Chile, is another. The Senate is split between the Left and the Right and in the chamber of deputies, the anti coalition members are more or less of the same number. It has become tough for the Boric presidency to push through pro-people reforms as there is constant opposition from the right.
But the positive development for the coalition is that the right is also split and many centre right members are showing interest in delinking them from far right. This gives the Left coalition the opportunity to divide the opposition and then push through its agenda. The CCP leadership is assessing the latest political developments and working on a strategy which will further strengthen the present members of the coalition while bringing in within its fold some centre-right elements who are unhappy with the leadership of the far right groups.
According to Daniel Nunez, a leading member of the CCP and a senior minister of the Boric government, CCP is working in tandem with the President Boric to bring about the transformation in the lives of the poor and underprivileged. So the Party can not limit a project of transformation only to participation in cabinet or in other govt bodies CCP is looking at some fundamental changes in the economy and social issues which will stay serving the interests of the citizens.
According to Nunez, the coalition parties absolutely have to banish—from the political options and from the discourse of a government of transformations—what was meant by the policy of consensus which was imposed at the beginning of the nineties, and which lasted a long time in Chile. That was the pact with the powers that be, which largely postponed the Concertación’s initial program. Now, we have here a government which, to consolidate and advance and fulfill its program, will require social and citizen strength.
He says ‘The way in which that social and civic force is embodied and the characteristics it has is something that will be seen, that will develop creatively and that will depend on the movements. I do not think there is a recipe, nor a manual outline. For the current project, the political force of parliamentary majorities is not enough—there must be organized citizenship. This was demonstrated by the victory of Apruebo [“Approval,” referring to the 2020 plebiscite which approved the process for a new Chilean constitution] and by this second [presidential election] round with enormous mobilization of the people, in which the strength of Boric and the campaign went far beyond a sum of parties.’
The Chilean Minister says that the Party must be careful to not limit everything to the political world because that can leave us isolated from society. This is a society that still looks at politics with great mistrust, as a specialized niche which needs to be brought closer, as was demonstrated in this second round and other events over the last two years.
As Mr. Nunez sees it, what must be done, in the first place, is to ensure that all the legislation—substantial reforms, profound changes, and transformations—is discussed, worked on, and generated in conjunction with the social movement and citizenship. That is the first thing. No bills drawn up by experts behind closed doors. It will be essential that legislation have social legitimacy—something which we lacked in the government of Michelle Bachelet. Obviously, in Parliament, it will be necessary to use debate, discussion, explanation, and even pressure when the right wing wants to block flagship projects, especially in the Senate.
The CCP leader says that the Party is not ruling out that within the framework of the new Constitution—which is the Boric government’s first major reform, to be resolved by the end of 2022—during 2023 and in the face of a right-wing boycott, we have resources such as the citizen plebiscite that allow us to unblock situations. The new Constitution will open a range of spaces and possibilities. This is why CCP believes that Boric’s first major endeavor is to ensure that Chile has the new Constitution, although this does not depend solely on the government, and we see that the Constitutional Convention [the body elected in May 2021 to draft a new Constitution] is determined to move forward on this.
In the Senate right now, he says , it is essential that the parties act together as a ruling coalition. It’s possible to add the support of Senators Fabiola Campillai and Karim Bianchi, who are independents. That gives coalition just 25 votes [out of 50 senators] so the coalition will have to be able to dialogue with the right wing, especially with those who realize that José Antonio Kast’s extremist views forever condemn them to be a minority.
According to CCP, the coalition will have to see if the liberal or “social” right wing is revived and if there will be a right wing which climbs out of the ditch and can speak to Chilean society and the centre-left forces.’ I do not know if it will happen or not, but I see a great void on the right and there are situations like Evópoli [center-right party Evolucíon Política], which claimed it was liberal right wing but received a blow due to its unconditional support for Kast in the presidential election, at a time when the “Pinochetista” right is condemned to minority status in Chile, he says.
The CCP is aware that the entire Latin American people are looking at the functioning of the governments in Chile, Peru and other countries of the region which elected left wing presidents in 2021 and 2020. In 2022, presidential elections are being held in Colombia in May and Brazil in October. In both these countries, the left candidates are leading in opinion poll but in order to continue that trend, the left wing governments have also show good work for the people. The CCP’s April Party Congress will be discussing a roadmap for Chile’s transformation uniting the coalition partners more solidly and dividing the right so that the Boric government can prove its credentials as a good performer during this year itself. (IPA Service)