lights, shadows and many challenges in the first 12 months in charge of Chile

In his inauguration speech, on March 11, 2022, in a Moneda surrounded by crowds and by the effervescence of high expectations, Gabriel Boric advanced difficulties and problems in his term. But he may never have predicted how difficult his first year in power would be.

This Friday, one day before his first year as president and in the announcement of his second great change of ministersHe openly admitted it. “We have had difficulties, who could deny it?” He stated when dismissing 5 of his ministers and welcoming another 5 (Foreign Ministry, Culture, Sports, Public Works and Science), in a change that implied the arrival and departure of 15 undersecretariesfigures not so well known, but essential in the Chilean political scene.

It is easy to point to its most difficult moment of all: the overwhelming defeat at the polls of the ‘I approve’ option that the Government was in favor of on September 4, 2022, the Chilean people’s refusal to replace the Constitution inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The defeat generated “a deep crisis of the project” within the official coalition of Approve Dignity, analyzes for France 24 Marcelo Mella, a political scientist and academic at the Department of Political Studies at the University of Santiago.

Mella also highlights the slow learning of the government bloc as a minority in Congress.

“It took them too long to understand that they had won only 24% of the seats in the Lower House” and that, under these conditions, it was essential to form a post-electoral coalition that would allow the double objective of supporting Boric and achieving legislative viability. This would explain the feeling of “legislative paralysis” that has been experienced in recent months.

In this sense, they would point to the integration in the last change of cabinet of politicians from the world of the Concertación, social democracy and Bacheletismo (such as the Minister of Sports Jaime Pizarro or the new chancellor, Alberto van Klaveren) with more experience, who could allow a post-electoral coalition that gives more slack to government projects, especially after the setback this Wednesday of the tax reform, Boric’s most important initiative since being able to finance his social projects on central issues such as pensions, health or education.

“In the history of Latin American presidentialism, a minority government is not necessarily doomed to failure,” recalls Mella, alluding to the presidential capacity to achieve cross-cutting agreements.

legacy challenges

It has been a “quite difficult, complex and challenging first year, both due to the promises of the Government and the challenges inherited from the Government of Sebastián Piñera, such as inflation control, the security crisis”, or the problems in the South, in the region marked by the Mapuche conflict, analyzes for France 24 Rodrigo Espinoza, director of the School of Administration of the Diego Portales University.

Espinoza also highlights the difficulty of complying with the government program, “where the star project was the tax reform” rejected this week in Congress, or “the pension reform”, as the obstacles to be overcome by Boric in the coming months. And he highlights the inclusion in the second cabinet change of “figures of more political tonnage with a look more towards democratic socialism” tracing the time line of the Government until now.

“The cabinet begins its mandate with a more front-line, left-wing look, and each time it has been moving more towards the center where the landing of parties such as the PPD and socialism have taken more control of the ministries and also of a Government, that have more concertationist overtones, more bacheletistas than a frontist at the beginning of the second year ”, Espinoza analyzes.

The lack of experience in the administration of the State, the “management” problems that Boric himself recognized a few days ago have taken a heavy toll on the Government, which has made several mistakes and own goals and offered the public on many occasions a feeling of debutante and improvisation, as was the scandal over the pardons of the so-called prisoners of the social revolt of October 2019, due to the controversy of having pardoned people with criminal records, something that was originally intended to be avoided.

Inexperience, high exposure and some successes

The Government’s own goals have to do with the inexperience of “a new generation” that enters institutional politics and that has a “very high exposure” in the media and before the citizenry. This condition of new leaders with parliamentary experience but not in the Executive branch means that in situations of pressure from public opinion “inadequate messages are given that divert attention from what is important and that are not only avoidable but also counterproductive,” Mella analyzes, for more than they refer to “tasty but irrelevant topics” for the country’s priorities. This inexperience has been reducing the circle of iron closest to the president, such as Minister Giorgio Jackson, also a former student leader, who has been losing power and being relegated to less key positions in the Government.

Mella highlights as positive the Government’s commitment to a new constituent process, with greater realism, “more transversal and less partisan.” Also, one of the great triumphs of the Government would be the significant increase in the minimum wagewhich after a transversal agreement with unions and organizations led by Minister Jeannette Jara reached a salary increase of 14.3% “the highest readjustment in the last 29 years,” says Mella.

The management of the fires has led Boric to recently recover a little of the popularity that shot down steadily for several months and that led him to have less than 30% approval and 70% disapproval until January , according to various surveys.

But what does the street say?

Four people surveyed by this means, all Boric voters, chosen at random and among different age ranges, show the most varied opinions.

“I voted for Boric because I wanted real changes but I feel that they won’t let him govern” that they sabotage him in Congress, Alejandra Perines, 52, a homemaker and entrepreneur, tells France 24. “Even so, I feel that he has done a lot” in the fight against crime in hot spots in the city, “but unfortunately people want quick solutions and economic measures and that takes a while to achieve.” Her balance is positive, she sees changes “we are on the right track”, although she is not unaware of some mistakes.

It was a “modest” first year, the things that were promised have not been done due to different factors, they have not held a proper dialogue with the opposition to reach agreements, to be able to move forward, “says Ricardo Urelio, 75 years old and retired. “They have not been able to convince all those who are with them, it will be difficult for them to convince the opposition,” he points out, alluding to the fact that few of the projects voted on this year had all the votes of the ruling party.

From a left-wing sensibility, “I observe a rapid move towards the center, many of the prerogatives and progressive impulses were completely buried in an act that inherits a lot from the Concertación in terms of implementing the neoliberal model with a progressive discourse and make-up,” he affirms. categorically, Ricardo Serrano, 43, a merchant, alluding to the fact that the Broad Front was ultracritical of the Concertación before coming to power.

In this difficult first year, those who did not vote for Boric were more satisfied than those of us who did, on issues such as the management of the Mapuche conflict or the ‘Approve’ campaign for those of us who had hopes or the tax reform, says Mercedes Fernández, a university professor at 35 years.

“The lack of projects in culture and education is resented despite being a government that comes from a harsh criticism of the educational system,” says Fernández, however he highlights his “joy” to see younger people in power and the relations with the citizenry, with a government closer to the people, and the role of the spokeswoman Camila Vallejo who “has dazzled”, as well as the policies to improve the condition of women or achieve equality and feminist policies”, with very important female leaders, he points out.

Boric’s year 2 chapter begins with difficulties, but there are still many months and projects ahead before a final balance of his management.