SANTIAGO, Chile.- The results of the first round of elections in Chile have reopened the elections Doubts about the political course that brought Gabriel Buric to La Moneda. The possibility that the communist Janet Jara lose to Jose Antonio Cast – And the president must Hand over the band to right– Installed a A climate of closure between generations
Sunday left more than just a close result. He installed the real possibility that Buric would end his term by handing power to José Antonio Cast. Jara received 26.84%, slightly higher than the 23.95% obtained by the Republican leader. Simple difference. Harsh message. he The ruling party reached the run-off round without expanding its base and without breaking the 30% ceiling.
Buric came to power as the face of the 2011 generation, accompanied by his radical student colleagues Camila Vallejo and Giorgio Jacksonwith the promise of starting New course on the Chilean left. Three years later, this generation today faces the most negative scenario. The constitutional defeat was already a blow, But the real choice of handing power to the more conservative right created a climate of defeat.
Sunday night the strike came with friendly fire. Former candidate Marco Enriquez Ominami – friend of the former Argentine president Alberto Fernandez Whoever came in second to last made the most devastating statement of the night: “This is not only the end of the nomination or the cycle. It is also the end of an era for the humanitarian and progressive world.”
He concluded by saying: “The democratic arc is closing. We have tried for 35 years to reform the political and economic structures of the dictatorship. This was not achieved. It was not desirable. It was not possible. We lacked conviction. We lacked courage.”
As the hours passed, the initial diagnosis hit squarely at the ruling party, which saw this happen Jara reached the second round on a strict left-handed rulewithout pulling towards the center. The elections showed Progressive without territorial expansion, without connection to majorities and with a project that has failed to maintain its original momentum.
He added: “The defeat was resounding for the ruling party, as everything indicates that Only the same 30% of strong support they received across the government voted for them. And even less than what was approved in the 2022 referendum. That is, they did not add more followers to this campaign.” Nation Asunción Poblete, researcher at IES.
The academic delved into the internal dimension of the problem. “Within this base, the Buric faction was victorious. This will make it difficult for Jara to self-criticize and distance himself from the government in order to increase his number of votes in the second round.”. This relative “victory” for the president’s party is a double-edged sword. Buric will continue to lead Progressivism“, He said.
He added a third term for the candidate: “Jara could have shown herself a little different from the government after winning the primaries, but she did not do that. His coalition will not allow him to deny the government or his communist roots, which generate antibodies among the population“.
The second axis of analysis focused on the return strategy. This was stated by Ricardo Hernandez, from the Res Publica Institute The candidate was unable to solve the starting dilemma.
“Jara, who was a minister throughout the entire term of President Buric and was naturally a continuation of the current government, had to distance himself from the ruling party as a campaign strategy given the low approval of the sector at the polls. And now, with the election result, it has been confirmed that Chileans view Boric’s administration and its legacy as negativeHernandez said Nation.
Time also plays against us. “The second round period… lasts for only one month. It is very difficult for Jara to unite the more left-wing voters and, in parallel, go out and look for votes in the centre “We distanced ourselves further from the current government,” Hernandez summed up.
Another issue the bloc must deal with is the internal cohesion of the ruling party. For Roberto Moneta, an analyst and director of public administration at Andres Bello University, the president’s situation is particularly complex.
“It is difficult for any president not to pass the presidential sash to someone with the same mark… The legacy is in doubt, but to some extent… Buric’s entourage realizes that if he wants to return to La Moneda, it is in his interest for Kast to rule and not Jara. So Gaara’s eventual defeat does not put an end to Puritanism“No way,” he said.
Regarding the standard-bearer’s strategy, Moneta added: “Jara has already begun to distance herself and criticize her government, and now she must push this argument further: Jara must go to the center and win the votes of leftists who do not support Boric“.
He concluded with the reading that worries the ruling party the most: “This government has already ended He did not show much cohesion. Two souls clearly visible. If the ruling party goes into opposition, the bloc will likely disintegrate and two very different oppositions will emerge against Kast: one more open to dialogue and the other very stubborn.“.
On December 14, the next government will be determined. But Sunday left another certainty: The political cycle that brought Buric to La Moneda —2011’s Promise of Generations, the student saga, Expect a Different Country— Today he faces his weakest moment. And perhaps a breaking point.
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