Home > Chilean Communist Party May Be Power Broker In January 15 Run-Off Election

Chilean Communist Party May Be Power Broker In January 15 Run-Off Election

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 22 December 2005
5 comments

Elections-Elected Governments South/Latin America Brian McAfee

by Brian McAfee

Chile’s Socialist Party candidate, Michelle Bachelet, soundly defeated her right wing opponents in the December 11 presidential vote but failed to obtain the 50% to become president. Chilean law requires a candidate receive at least 50% of the vote to obtain the presidency. The breakdown was Bachelet 45.95%, Sebastian Pinera of the National Renovation party 25.41%, Joaquin Lavin of the Independent Democratic Union party 23.22%, and Tomas Hirsch of the Humanist party and part of a coalition with Chile’s Communist party 5.40%, Most of Hirsch’s vote coming from the Communist Party.

After the initial presidential vote the two right wing candidates quickly formed a coalition against the Socialist parties Dr Michelle Bachelet. With the combined vote block of the two right wing candidates Bachelet’s lead is greatly reduced. With the likely support of the Chilean Communist party she will retain a narrow lead. Hirsch has split from his alliance with the CP and declared his independence, no longer a factor in the race. With many on the Right being Pinochet loyalists and Bachelet’s solid link with the Left the upcoming run off vote will indicate were Chile is at in Latin America’s current trend toward the Left. Chile’s outgoing Socialist president Lagos’s 70% approval rating may be an indicator. The background of the two candidates differ widely.

Dr Bachelet endured numerous personal tragedies in the years of Pinochet’s coup. Her father, Alberto Bachelet, an air force general loyal to president Salvador Allende, was tortured to death in 1974 by DINA, Pinochet’s secret police. In 1975 both then 23 year old medical student, Michelle Bachelet, and her mother, Angela Jeria, were kidnapped from their home by a gang of DINA men. Both were tortured and deprived of food and water. Because of intervention by some top military officials, the two women escaped execution and were instead exiled to Australia Under the junta. Many women and girls were raped, tortured, and executed. Most of the perpetrators remain unpunished. Bachelet and her mother spent almost 5 years in Australia, then she returned to Chile to do clandestine human rights work. She also became a medical doctor, treating victims of rape and torture committed by the U.S. supported junta.Most of the victims were members of Chile’s Socialist and Communist parties.

Democracy was restored in Chile in 1988. As a politically active outspoken critic of the U.S. supported fascist dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Bachelet became president Ricardo Lagos’s choice to head the national ministry of health. She served in this capacity from March of 2000 then in a stunning move, President Lagos appointed her defense minister in 2002. As a former victim of military crimes, this move signaled a complete overhaul of Chile’s military establishment. While she endorsed efforts to prosecute officers for their crimes against the civilian population, Bachelet obtained and continues to have the respect of the majority of the military and their families. There were over 3,000 murdered by the junta during the Pinochet years, a national wound that has not yet healed. "There was a group of Pinochet supporters who thought when the wives of the disappeared died off, the problem will die with it," Bachelet said, "But their children and grandchildren have taken up the flag."

Sebastian Pinera, a PhD in economics and a successful businessman, has strong ties to the media and is said to be a billionaire. He has had an ongoing affiliation with the Chilean Right.

Despite the harsh realities of the past, the current president Ricardo Lagos as well as his likely successor, Dr. Bachelet, have their vision set firmly on the future, dealing with the current complexities of the economy, social issues, and the environment.
Bachelet will have to take a closer look at The CP’s three platform positions, greater democratization to fully break away from the rights undue influence on Chile’s political system. A reconsideration of Chile’s privatized healthcare system and better pension fund system. Time will tell.

Forum posts

  • 17 January 2006
    Mr. McAfee:

    So, to what extent were former generals prosecuted as a result of her leadership as Minister of Defence for what they did under the Pinochet regime? I’ve never heard that there has been a large-scale prosecution of former military officials. Perhaps I just missed it.

    She says, post-election, that she’ll continue in the way of the former President, Lagos, who supported her bid for the presidency, and that she supports international "free trade" agreements. One wonders in what way, then, she and Lagos differ from "the right", except in that she would like to develop a better healthcare system. I don’t know anything about Chilean politics...just wondering.

    Sanpaku

  • So, what are the three platform positions exactly, and in what way does she support them? I’m not sure that the first part of the question matters unless one is concerned about the CP of Chile, but one does wonder what the new president will aim to achieve in concete terms. As you recall, Bill Clinton wanted to reform the healthcare system in the US, but he didn’t get very far.

    Sorry, but the closing remarks about Lagos and B. looking to the future are a bit nebulous. One wants to say something to conclude such an article, but... I’m not a writer, so can’t help here. Regards.

    Wandering Ghost

  • Since Bachelet is a member of the Socialist Party of Chile, not the CP, it’s not clear why the mention of the CP party platform at the end of your article. The vote of CP members must have had a minority role to play in her election. If she had run on the CP ticket, she would have lost.

    I take it, on reflection, that you are just expressing your own preference, that she consider the CP platform.

    Comments from a dead parrot. Jan. 2006

  • About your claim that Bachelet instigated action against those in the military responsible for atrocities committed under Pinochet, the documentary "Caravan of Death", shown on Worldlink TV, would indicate that nothing much has been done about calling to account those who went up and down the coast of Chile executing political dissidents or those with dubious political positions. Has something changed since that documentary was made?

    One wonders to what extent Chile has really addressed what happened back then, and to what extent recent governments have decided to just let it go. Perhaps you might write something addressing this in more detail. What happened exactly when Bachelet was the Minister of Defense?

  • 21 January 2006
    The other day, BBC World News said that the military in Chile had granted all of its members a complete amnesty regarding anything they did during the Pinochet years. One wonders exactly what Bachelet did during her time as Minister of Defense about those officers responsible for atrocities back then.

    Bella Pinocchio, Minister of Foreign Affairs, otherwise known as the Secretary of War