Four days after the far-right and conservative candidate José Antonio Caste met with former Christian Democratic President Eduardo Frey (1994-2000), the sole standard-bearer of the Chilean Left Bloc, communist Janet Jara, held a meeting this Thursday – over breakfast – with former socialist President Michelle Bachelet (2006 – 2010, 2014 – 2018), whom she nominated at the end of last September. Government of Gabriel Buric to the United Nations Secretariat.
Without literally expressing her support for Jara in the December 14 runoff, in which he will face Cast, Bachelet noted that all her life she has worked “with people committed to the country and with a deep sense of service. Janet Jara is one of them: a serious, responsible woman dedicated to public policies that affect the lives of families.”
The former president’s comments were revealed through a public statement in which she also noted that “Chile is going through an important moment” and that “in every electoral process, I believe the essential thing is to strengthen our democracy: to participate, to be informed, and to listen respectfully.” He added, “Apart from the differences inherent in any conflict, the main thing is for Chile to advance through dialogue, stability and institutional respect.” He concluded by saying: “I invite you to look at our democracy and take care of it, which has always been our greatest heritage.”
Jara was Undersecretary of Social Security during Bachelet’s second administration, a period in which the Communist Party entered government for the first time since the return to democracy in 1990. During the administrations of the previous CDU, the center-left coalition led by La Moneda between 1990 and 2010, the Communist Party was the opposition.
The meeting between Bachelet and Jara comes at a complicated moment for the Chilean left. All polls give Kast a wide advantage in the second round. Although the former Minister of Labor in Buric’s government came in first place in last Sunday’s sixteenth elections, with 26.8%, she was a short distance from the far right, which received 23.95%. The Republican also received immediate support from the two other opposition candidates running: Evelyn Mathie (12%), from the traditional right, and liberal Johannes Kaiser (13.9%), who is even more extreme than Kast. The three right-wing parties total more than 50%, and to reach La Moneda, 50% plus one vote is needed.
The signal given by Bachelet in favor of Jara may complicate her nomination to the United Nations, after the ruling party began dialogue with the opposition. Although he did not offer his explicit support, the gesture towards Buric’s former minister was clear.
In turn, the meeting between Kast and Frey was a major blow to Jara’s candidacy, although the former president was not as vocal in lending his support to the GOP in the December 14 tiebreaker. “We are at a crucial moment when the country needs unity,” Frey said after the meeting with the far right.
According to the former president, whose party membership was suspended by the Supreme Court due to the meeting with Kast, “all sectors need to come together, on a broad scale, in order to reach agreements that will allow us to overcome the challenges we face today.” He added that he and Kast had a “frank and in-depth conversation about the serious problems” affecting Chile and the urgent need to take action to address the needs. “I was able to confirm that we agree on the fundamental issues of this time for our country (…)” “In my experience, they shared the vision and priorities that I consider fundamental to moving forward in building the country that Chileans need and deserve.”