Not even 24 hours passed after the election of the new board of directors of the Chamber of Deputies for the first controversy to begin, this after the new vice president, Gaspar Rivas, assured that Minister Álvaro Elizalde offered him the position in exchange for supporting Karol Cariola as president.
These events were first denied by the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency and then by the same PDG deputy; However, the Social Christian Party submitted a request for censure to the new table, which was supported by the Republican Party.
According to La Tercera, “in Chile Vamos and the Democratic Party distanced themselves from the attack of the other opposition groups. Even, They interpreted this offensive as a way to divert attention from the responsibility that both committees had for the absences of Mauricio Ojeda. (independent-republican) and Enrique Lee (independent-social-Christian)”.
“I share the arguments of the censorship… However, Chile is tired of divisions and citizens want to see the political class work on urgent issues, such as security and economic reactivation. I think this dispute over who rings the bell makes citizens uncomfortable.. We as a bench have not made a decision… We have to talk about it, but it is not up to us to generate more tension in Congress, but to look for a space for dialogue… The table has been going on for less than 24 hours, we have to be very measured,” said representative Joanna Pérez (Democrats), who was part of the opposition proposal, who lost the election.
For her part, the head of the RN bench, Ximena Ossandón: “The responsibility for the viability of these censorship is theirs. They are the ones who must gather the votes. Votes that seem more difficult, even than when we vote at the table…. The votes are not there today. The Republicans were responsible for us losing the table. They are committing a childish and irresponsible act, because they are going to end up anointing Karol Cariola for the second time”.
In this context, the new president of the Chamber, Karol Cariola, urged the opposition to “reconsider what they are doing. “This is a serious institution, which requires stability and permanent work.”
Furthermore, he regretted that the action against the directive was carried out for a “particular situation of a parliamentarian at the table, it seems to me that it does not make sense.”
“I hope they don’t have the votes to censure a table that has not even had the necessary time to set up and be able to demonstrate its capacity and willingness,” he added.I think this is a bad sign for the country. This damages democracy, it damages the seriousness of the institutions. And I really hope that those who have carried out this censorship will reconsider what they are doing, because we have to take care of this National Congress together, especially the parliamentary work that already has a discredit that we have to reverse through facts and work,” the parliamentarian closed.
