Chilean government proposes postponing elections to May this year
On 10 and 11 April, Chileans will take to the streets to face the ballot box. The elections will allow them to choose municipal authorities, governors and the 155 drafters of the new constitution. The executive has proposed postponing these elections to 15 and 16 May; this proposal must be approved by parliament with a two-thirds majority. The government has taken this decision on the basis of the serious health crisis in which they are immersed. The latest figures from the Ministry of Health indicate that only 165 Intensive Care Unit beds are available on a national scale. "Although, like so many others, this has been a very difficult decision, we have to take it and we are fully convinced that it is the best thing for Chile and Chileans," said the president.
The president took this decision supposedly for the health of his citizens, to "protect the health and lives of all", and for democratic participation in "a democratic, participatory and safe electoral process". The government aims to raise the rate of vaccinated people by the second week of May, with an estimated 9.3 million people vaccinated, before election day can take place. The move was called for by the country's scientists and some members of the Chilean opposition. National polls are leaning in favour of postponing elections, because of COVID-19 statistics, and with more than 70% of the country re-entering national confinement, making voting conditions a bit risky for citizens, according to the president. Piñera is looking for the drafting of a new Constitution to be legitimised by a large majority of Chileans, thereby seeking to improve the turnout numbers for the 25 October 2020 elections with a 50% abstention rate.
During 2019, Chile experienced one of its biggest political crises, where citizens demanded certain social reforms to guarantee the democratic state, according to the protesters. After months of protests, President Sebastián Piñera called for the resignation of several of his ministers and called for constitutional elections to draft a new constitution. The plebiscite, held on 25 October 2020, received 78% support in favour of drafting a new constitution, while 25% opted to maintain the constitution of dictator Augusto Pinochet, which has been reformed over the past 30 years.
"Our democracy was strengthened thanks to citizen participation. Today our duty will be to continue building a better country," Piñera said on his social media account on the day of the plebiscite.
Health Minister Enrique Paris, who accompanied President Piñera at the time of the announcement from the La Moneda palace, said it was very important to vaccinate more citizens before the elections. Chile currently leads the vaccination campaign in all of Latin America, more than 6 million people have been vaccinated, but the results of this vaccination process have not yet achieved their goal, so the national government has decided to revert to the mechanisms already used in the past in order to lower the incidence of COVID-19. "We know that the containment measures are very strict, which implies a great effort on the part of the different sectors of the population. But at the moment it is necessary to reduce mobility to prevent the virus from spreading further. We have to make an extra effort, we have to continue to maintain self-care measures," said Minister Paris. This Sunday 28, according to the ministry, saw a record number of PCR tests, reaching 80,000 tests in the last week.
The change in the electoral schedule would mean a change in some of the calls for this year 2021, the second round of the gubernatorial elections that was to be held on May 9 will be held on June 4, in conjunction with the primaries to elect party leaders for the presidential elections that remain for November this year.
