opinion | After the referendum was defeated, Gabriel Borek took his government and approached the center

The government has spoken of the start of the “second half”, somewhat premature given that Borek is only six months into his four-year term. If we continue with the sports metaphor (Borek is a football fanatic), we have just completed 12 minutes of the first half and the players are just getting ready, but it was already necessary to turn to the bench for changes in the main positions.

Borek described it as “one of the most difficult political moments I have ever faced”. But before that he had also been through awkward situations and the answer was the same: trick to the left then hook it up and play through the center. With these movements he managed to move, within a decade, from a student leader to a president of the republic.

In November 2019, Chile was shaken by social explosion, the largest protest since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, in 1990. Right-wing President Sebastian Pinera had played down resentment by suggesting that Chile was an “oasis”. Then he took the army out into the street and warned: “We are at war.” But the demonstrations, both peaceful and violent, continued. For the first time in 30 years, the right was willing to abandon its line of defence: the constitution, imposed by Pinochet in 1980, has been reformed several times, although it has not been replaced by democracy.

The political parties, in marathon sessions, negotiated an agreement: elections would be called for a constitutional convention. The Left Broad Front, founded in 2017, by former student leaders, has been hesitant. One of the members of the FA was opposed by the then-deputy party of Borek, Social Convergence: some considered that the signing was to hand over a lifeline to the shaky Pinera government.

Borek pretended and came out playing through the middle: he signed the agreement “in his personal capacity”. He. She accused of being a traitorThey attacked him in a garden, and his party stopped his struggle. But his political standing has grown: he has become a major player in the league.

In 2021, the presidential election was approaching and the Football Association had no candidate. Some of their leaders were too young to meet the 35-year condition. They offered to run for many close personalities, but no one wanted to: the chosen one would face Daniel Gadeau, the Communist Party (PC) and Recoleta mayor, in the primaries in which all gave Jadu the sure winner.

In the end, Borek was announced more out of disapproval than enthusiasm. He had just turned 35 years old. He had to collect 34,000 signatures to score, a goal that initially seemed impossible, and he achieved close to the legal deadline. Everyone assumed his nomination would be as brief as it was symbolic.

But then, as on that early morning in 2019, a clearing again appeared in the middle. Jadue was certain of his victory, he was an extremist and a fighter. He defended the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes, Clash with journalists In the discussions he said that companies that do not pay living wages “should not exist”.

Borek got to the center and came out playing. There was a key factor: voters from the former Concertación parties could participate in the elections between Boric and Jadue. The current president has polarized this group by being conciliatory, eschewing radical suggestions, and distancing himself from the region’s authoritarian leftist regimes. added more than million votes He beat the PC candidate by 20 points.

In the first election round of 2021, as the presidential candidate of Approve Dignidad (coalition of the FA and the Communist Party), he barely arrived 25.8%two points ahead of the far-right candidate, Jose Antonio Cast.

What happened? Yes, once again he saw space in the center: Caste raised the alarm with his glorification of Pinochet and with a program promising to repeal the Three Reasons Abortion Decriminalization Act, as well as the abolition of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. So Borek changed his programmatic plan, ignoring proposals such as re-establishing the Carabineros and modifying his economic reforms. He has shown himself as a reliable candidate in the face of Caste’s extremism. And it turns out. Thanks to a large mobilization, especially from women from major cities, he became the youngest president in the history of Chile.

Now the challenge is infinitely more difficult. popularity at 33%burdened with crime and inflation that reaches 14.1%the highest rate since 1992. The constitutional referendum, triggered by the agreement that Borek signed in 2019, ended in disaster for his government: 62% of Chileans rejected the text prepared by the agreement, which was also understood as evidence of his administration’s refusal.

Under pressure, Borek now repeats his favorite move. The leaders of the young ex-students who accompanied Borik in this process had to make room for the “old guard” of the former consortacion. Carolina Tuha, 57, former MP, former mayor and former minister to the president, Michelle Bachelet, takes over as chief of staff, replacing independent Izkea Sechesis (36). Anna Leah Oriart, 60, former Bachelet chief of staff, is the new presidential secretary, replacing Giorgio Jackson, 35, of the FA and Borek’s political partner. In La Moneda kernel, only active speaker Camila Vallejo (34), from PC, remained. In the Political Committee, the powers are now equal: three ministers from the former Concertación parties, three from the FA-PC. (And yes, ministers, because in an unprecedented event, five of the six members of the Political Committee are women.)

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The young people who came to sweep the former consortium from the board of directors must now share power. A few weeks ago, Jackson caused itching by saying that “The measure of our values ​​and principles” is far from “the generation that preceded us”. Now, this generation is called to the rescue.

Will the same move work for Borek this time? It’s not easy. Political forces are searching for a way out of the constitutional quagmire, while the government remains helpless in the face of devastating delinquency as well as simultaneous inflation, and the new government must now negotiate in Congress to implement its reforms with an even bolder opposition. Its classic transfer to the center is tested by fire.