Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Chile’s Latest Assault on Democracy: 12 Parties Will Be Forced to Dissolve

A dozen smaller parties will be excluded, by law, from participating in Chile’s elections. It’s more proof that the new Boric government is just more of the same.

La Izquierda Diario Chile

February 12, 2022
Facebook Twitter Share
A mass protest in Chile, part of the uprising across the country in late 2019.

Chile’s Servicio Electoral (the Electoral Service known as Servel), nominally independent from the government, has released a list of political parties that will have to dissolve for their failure in the recent national elections to obtain 5 percent of the votes in eight regions of the country, or not winning at least four seats in the country’s congress. This is a requirement imposed by the Constitutional Organic Law of Political Parties (Law 18.603, Article 57).

Without a doubt, this shows how the current electoral system in Chile works in favor of the traditional parties that have run Chile since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship 30 years ago, making institutionally invisible the position of thousands of workers who already feel unrepresented by the traditional parties. This step goes beyond the financial burden smaller parties face when they must compete with the traditional parties.

Among the parties that must dissolve are some that did win parliamentary seats, but that do not meet the specific requirements of the law. Similarly, parties with representatives on councils or in other positions will also be forced to dissolve.

The effect is to exclude from the electoral arena any representation of political views that differ from those of the traditional parties, creating a sort of monopoly of parties that have not only distributed political power among themselves, but have also done the same with the country’s wealth.

Dauno Tótoro, a leader of the Partido de Trabajadores Revolucionarios (PRT, Revolutionary Workers’ Party, Left Voice’s sister group in Chile), who was a candidate for deputy in last November’s elections, denounced the anti-democratic nature of the current electoral system, emphasizing the specific measures the law requires. He noted that dissolving parties prevents the growth of a Left that can question the current government and the next one, and also limits the free expression of organizations that had achieved legal status and now are deprived of their legality. 

The law, said Tótoro, maintains the framework established in the aftermath of the dictatorship, in which only two “conglomerates” can employ their legal powers as a party: the former Concertación and the Frente Amplio on the one hand, and the right-wing Chile Vamos on the other.1Translator’s note: The Cóncertacion coalition held the presidency from the time military rule ended until 2010. Frente Amplio (Broad Front) is a coalition that groups some left-wing parties and the Liberals; current Chilean president Gabriel Boric was one of its founders. Chile Vamos is the party of the Sebastián Piñera, who preceded Boric as president.

This imposition of the law reveals the Left mirage that has been created by the Frente Amplio, with Boric at the head as Chile’s new president along with the old Concertación. It has taken only a few words to demonstrate that nothing has really changed with the government.

First published in Spanish on February 12 in La Izquierda Diario Chile.

Translation by Scott Cooper

Notes

Notes
1 Translator’s note: The Cóncertacion coalition held the presidency from the time military rule ended until 2010. Frente Amplio (Broad Front) is a coalition that groups some left-wing parties and the Liberals; current Chilean president Gabriel Boric was one of its founders. Chile Vamos is the party of the Sebastián Piñera, who preceded Boric as president.
Facebook Twitter Share

La Izquierda Diario Chile

Our Chilean sister site, part of the international network of La Izquierda Diario

Latin America

Alfredo Cisneros, Mexican land defender from Michoacán, stands in a forest. He is the fifth land defender to be murdered in the country in 2023.

Alfredo Cisneros: Fifth Mexican Environmentalist Assassinated in 2023

Alfredo Cisneros Madrigal, indigenous leader and forest defender in Michoacán, Mexico was murdered on February 23. He is the fifth environmental defender to be murdered in the country so far this year.

Axomalli Villanueva

March 13, 2023

Lula Visits Biden to Repair Relations with U.S. Imperialism

Brazilian President Lula's U.S. visit shows that he's focused on maintaining the interests of Brazilian capital while aligning with U.S. imperialism and being careful not to alienate Beijing.

Caio Reis

February 16, 2023

SOUTHCOM Chief Aims to Increase Imperialist Plunder of Latin America’s Resources

U.S. Southern Command Chief Laura Richardson has expressed interest in lithium and other natural resources in South America. It shows the country’s commitment to corporate profits at the expense of workers, Indigenous people, and the environment.

Luigi Morris

January 26, 2023

The Peruvian Uprising: Massive Protests Demand the Fall of the Coup Regime and a Constituent Assembly

Peru has erupted in a massive uprising demanding that President Dina Boluarte resign, that the current Congress be shut down, and that a new constitution be established. The protests are the culmination of years of political oppression of the country’s indigenous communities, drastic poverty rates and precarity for Peru’s workers and poor, and a political regime that continues the legacy of Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship.

MOST RECENT

Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023