14 NOVEMBER 2013

Chilean elections show a new

political dynamism
Traditional political players in Chile
are challenged by new socio-political
forces.
by

Simon Escoffier
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/11/chilean-elections-show-new-politicaldynamism-20131114101625627767.html
Simon Escoffier is a DPhil candidate at St Antonys College, University of Oxford, and a
postgraduate research associate at the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities.

Chile holds elections on November 17 in a very special political

scenario. Since the return to democracy in 1988, Chiles institutional
politics was always divided into two powerful party coalitions: the
Concertacin (centre and left-wing parties), and the Chilean Alliance
(right-wing parties). Since 2006, and especially during the last few years
(during Sebastian Pineras current presidency), new arrangements of
citizenship brought into question this entrenched political order.
By citizenship in this case I mean a groups access to expressing their
political rights through institutional political representation. Therefore,
here citizenship expresses how much people feel represented by political
institutions.
How Chileans relate to the state and other institutions has changed in
the past years, and this election expresses those shifts. This election is
historically unique because it brought
Chile's presidential elections are due to be held on November 17 in
a special political setting. Since the return to democracy in 1988, Chile's
institutional politics have always been divided into two powerful party

coalitions: the Concertacion (centre and left-wing parties), and the

Chilean Alliance (right-wing parties). Since 2006, and especially during
the last few years (during Sebastian Pinera's current presidency), new
arrangements of citizenship brought into question this entrenched
political order.
By citizenship, I mean a group's access to expressing their political
rights through institutional political representation. Therefore,
citizenship expresses how much people feel represented by political
institutions.
How Chileans relate to the state and other institutions has changed in
the past years, and this election expresses those shifts. This election is
historically unique because it brought to the fore new parties and novel
independent candidates. Topics never before discussed by presidential
candidates have been addressed. These new socio-political
developments are particularly visible on the left.
Weakening of coalitions
One of the main factors that will dominate the November 17 elections is
that none of the traditionally powerful coalitions represent an answer to
major national issues. (Candidates affiliations and political orientations
can be found here.)

Changes in the socio-political configuration of Chile began with the growing s

movement which periodically took to the streets in the past 12 years.
Centre-left parties (excluding the Communist Party) united during the
1980s in order to defeat the dictatorship in a coalition called
Concertacion de Partidos por la Democracia (Concert of Parties for
Democracy). Despite many people's expectations that they would
promote egalitarianism and justice in the country after the dictatorship,
the Concertacion managed to deepen Chile's exclusionary and neoliberal system.
Although once inspirational and progressive, the Concertacion became
engrained in the state's bureaucratic structure. Accordingly, they got
involved in collusion and corruption scandals, gave little salience to the
transitional justice process, increasingly based strategies on electoral
research, and had a strong top-down emphasis that neglected people's
empowerment.

During the Concertacion period of rule, authorities managed to open

Chile's market through a large number of free trade agreements (Chile
holds 22 commercial agreements with 60 countries, including the US,
China, and the EU).
Reacting to their low popularity, the Concertacion recently decided to
change their name, creating a new coalition: New Majority. The New
Majority includes all the centre-left Concertacion parties, as well as the
Communist party.
On the other side of the spectrum, Chilean Alliance has also lost
representation, especially among the right-wing youth. The Alliance
demonstrated that it is ready to reject any progressive initiative in terms
of civil or social rights, moving away from the more liberal branches of
the right (leading a centre-right wing movement, neo-liberal Bellolio
represents such liberal ideals [Sp]).
Additionally, charismatic right-wing candidate Laurence Golborne,
stepped down after a fraud scandal involving the company he led for
years, effected more than 600,000 consumers. The Chilean Alliance was
left with no choice but a bureaucratic reaction, diminishing their
leadership and opening spaces for alternative candidates, like Franco
Parisi.
People's empowerment
Changes in the socio-political configuration of Chile began with the
growing student movement which periodically took to the streets in the
past 12 years. However, it was only in 2011 that the movement had the
experience, the structure, and the inclusivity to become convincing
enough to challenge Chile's neo-liberal system, beyond specific
educational demands. Students exposed a system-wide machinery of
segregation, privilege and injustice - rooted in Pinochet's policies - that
provided an explanation for people's grievances in diverse areas. Public
debate ultimately identified the 1980s constitution as the basis for most
national inequality reproduction.
Debating with experienced politicians, and demonstrating rigorous
collective action, students mobilised in large numbers of over 100,000,
marching in Santiago alone. Despite the students' public positive
evaluation (over 70 percent), authorities took no measures and
increased repression, radicalising the movement, confirming narratives

of authoritarianism, and installing education in the centre of any

political discussion.
The lack of any shifts in educational matters since 2006 - despite two
waves of massive nationwide protests - accentuated the already
increasing distrust towards politicians.
In addition to student demonstrations, many other movements became
salient in Santiago, and across the country, protesting over resources,
decentralisation and environmental issues: There was a municipal
workers protest, conflicts in Aysen, Chanaral, and Freirina, and unrest
over a hydroelectric dam in Patagonia, among others.
At the same time, this growing mobilisation could not be captured by
the traditional left. The fact that the Communist Party joined the New
Majority coalition is compelling evidence on how much the left has
compromised in negotiations with other parties in the last years.
Accordingly, the Communist Party increasingly separated from popular
grassroots movements.
Indeed, although polls show her as a clear winner, Bachelet has been
compelled to take clear positions on topics never before discussed in
Chile's presidential elections, like the establishment of a Constituent
Assembly, sea resources exploitation rights, pollution-related health
issues and educational segregation.
These developments opened an opportunity for novel leftist movements
to construct connections and leaderships with a spontaneity hitherto
non-existent.
Struggling
over
housing
rights
and
opposing gentrification, the Movement of Dwellers in Struggle MPL[Sp] - is an example of these new trends (for more on the
movement see thispublication p 201).
A growing political alternative
In this context, a new emerging political force could quickly fill a gap
between leftist grassroots popular movements, such as MPL, and
political parties.
Living in San Bernardo - one of Santiago's poorest districts - and
representing the newly created Partido Igualdad (Equality Party),
Roxana Miranda personifies the new state of Chilean citizenship. In fact,

she only became a candidate after contentiously leading [Sp] a

grassroots housing debtors movement (ANDHA). In a struggle for the
right to housing, Miranda has led several occupations and protests
against financial institutions and politicians, including Michelle
Bachelet.
Partido Igualdad distanced itself from the Communist Party, as well as
from other traditionally leftist parties, claiming to be the only far-left
alternative that truly represents the poor. In presidential debates and
interviews, Miranda has explained, for example, that instead of going to
the dentist, people in shantytowns sometimes fix a broken tooth with
glue [Sp], a statement which caused great controversy.
Speaking about her own housing debts, the experience of living in a 36square-metre social housing unit, the dramatically low wages of the
poor, and providing testimonial examples about the tough life in
Santiago's peripheral ghettos, Miranda manages to unveil a reality
generally omitted from Chile's public discourse, especially from
ceremonious presidential debates.
Like Miranda, other candidates have also contributed to breaking the
dual political landscape in Chile. While Alfredo Sfeir and Ricardo
Israel brought environmental issues and decentralisation to the fore,
independent centre-right candidate Parisi managed to erode the
traditional right-wing coalition's resonance alluding to liberal values
and some social rights.
Additionally, candidates have seen the need for addressing new topics
emerging essentially from social unrest in the past few years. Indeed,
although polls show her as a clear winner, Bachelet has been compelled
to take clear positions on topics never before discussed in Chile's
presidential elections, like the establishment of a Constituent Assembly,
sea resources exploitation rights, pollution-related health issues and
educational segregation.
Although with less "closeness" and legitimacy than before, Bachelet still
offers security to voters - unlike most other candidates. However,
despite her inevitable landslide victory, Chile's political scenario is far
from unipolar and static.

Simon Escoffier is a DPhil candidate at St Antony's College,

University of Oxford, and a postgraduate research associate
at the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities.
Follow him on Twitter: @SimonEscoffier