The tension over legal abortion escalated everywhere within the “Contigo Chile Mejor” pact, formed by the Christian Democrats (DC) and the ruling party. In the usual party table meeting on Monday; at the lunch of senators, deputies and leaders on Tuesday in Valparaíso; and in another meeting last night in Congress, the only issue was the same: a disparagement of the DC in President Boric’s surprise announcement about the abortion project.
In the phalanx they point out that they reviewed at length what, they affirm, is a “disconsideration” and a “lack of reciprocity” by La Moneda when presenting “the idea without notice”, while they share an electoral pact and when the “destiny of the proposal “It is going straight to failure due to lack of votes.”
However, the ruling party points out that there is an electoral calculation in the DC. This, since they must explain to their electorate why they share an electoral pact with parties that adhere to an issue that their voters reject. And that this can bring a cost to them at the election level.
“The Public Account speech marked a before and after in a relationship that had been strategic and respectful, but this disregard generates damage and mistrust that is difficult to overcome. The question is who needs whom more. “Does the DC vote for the Government, or does the Government vote for DC?” warns a parliamentarian from the community.
Two things are questioned in the phalanx: that the presentation was without any notice and in the middle of a campaign where the store is part of the official electoral pact. And, furthermore, that the matter is a discomfort for the Christian Democratic electorate.
With that annoyance of the store chaired by Alberto Undurraga as a backdrop, the three meetings of the Christian Democracy aimed to define the Government’s response to the “ignorance” and a redefinition of the bond of bilateral trust.
With an electoral partner distancing itself, and whose votes are relevant in Congress, from early in the morning the Government began damage control through the Political Committee: they used a much friendlier tone than the one used over the weekend, they recalled. the value of understanding with the phalanx and emphasized that in the debate all visions would be treated with respect.
However, the Executive had an “ace” up its sleeve. In the meeting in La Moneda, sources indicate that it would have been stated that in 2021 the program of the former first-round presidential candidate, Senator Yasna Provoste, included, in the Transversal National Programs section, “Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Law.”
In the ruling party, the person in charge of the countercoup was the leadership of the Party for Democracy (PPD), which supported the project and recalled Provoste’s presidential program in a public statement.
In a document, the PPD noted: “We cannot help but consider that in the last presidential campaign, where our candidate and that of our partners was Yasna Provoste Campillaythe government program for which we voted contained on pages 175 and 177, within the chapter titled ‘For a New Chile with Us’, explicit mention of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, without causes.”
In the DC, this offensive generated surprise. At the close of this edition, not all leaders were aware of the PPD statement.
However, in a sector of the ruling party it was interpreted that the abstention of the Christian Democrat parliamentarians in the vote on the Anti-Discrimination Law was a response to the move of the Party for Democracy.
In fact, on that same day, the president of Convergencia Social, Diego Ibáñez, also recalled Provoste’s program, expressing that it was an issue that was discussed in all developed countries. At the press point, Ibáñez stated that in the afternoon he would meet with the bench of DC deputies. However, the phalanx group did not agree to meet with him, since there was no appointment set in advance.
In Christian Democracy they are betting that the President himself will take an initiative to seek to rebuild trust. “The speech and the handling of the information was the President’s, he is the one who should meet with us, not the president of his party,” maintains a DC source.
In Democratic Socialism, meanwhile, they warn that Christian Democracy is in an electoral key, extreme its speeches, since in the October elections it will have to contest a center electorate with much more competition, with the emergence of Democrats and Yellows, the who, although they leaned towards the right, have a similar electorate.
The Falangist annoyance was far from appeasing and for almost the entire day the political implications of the “impasse” with Boric.
“The Government can send the project it wants, but we will be further away from the Government, our militants and those we represent are not in favor of those projects,” said the vice president of the DC, Gianni Rivera, to The counter.
The evaluation of the case by the electoral analyst of the Christian Democrats, Víctor Maldonado, was more gloomy. The former secretary general of the DC had been summoned to the lunch meeting this Tuesday in Congress, to deliver his analysis of the situation:
“Abortion is one thing and non-notification is another. When you announce that you are going to change the agenda in that way and that magnitude, where not even all the members of the Political Committee know, and even less so the DC, it is clear that the relationship with us is not one of high mutual trust, but rather it is a case to case. So, although there will not be a total rejection of initiatives proposed by the Government, DC support will not be in advance either, but will be seen on a case-by-case basis. That’s what changed. The President changed it because of the way he addressed the presidential message, and I believe that this is how the relationship will be maintained, at least with the President and the ministers,” said Maldonado.
For his part, the vice president of the Chamber, Eric Aedo (DC), regretted that the relationship of trust that had been difficult to build collapsed so quickly.
“We had been building a strategic relationship with the Government. We had managed to work together on pension reform, security projects, investigative commissions, and tax matters. In every complex situation that the Government has faced in its projects, we have been willing to collaborate and move them forward. When you have a strategic relationship without being part of the Government, what you expect is reciprocity, and here there was none. When you are building a strategic relationship, the Government surprises you. It is their right to do so, but in a framework that is controversial for the DC, they should notify you,” said Aedo.
At the DC table, there are no nuanced visions either. According to some of its members, although Provoste’s program addressed abortion, they specify that it was another political moment. They also add that it is not only about the impact of the issue on an electoral alliance with the PC and the Frente Amplio, but also about the absence of prior information about the store led by Undurraga.
“If the DC initiated an inspection measure against the Government… (…) either in the Chamber or before the Comptroller’s Office, although it is within its rights, obviously the Government would be informed before presenting a document,” they maintain in the phalanx. .
