09/12/2013
Sergio Castro is a political scientist and strategic consultant
We are right and we know it. And we will also make you know it. It sounds simple, but the power of conviction is frequently disregarded. We've been able to see an example of this in the first round of the Chilean elections last November, and we have also seen it before in other countries like Colombia or Mexico. While we must acknowledge that the electoral campaign of the right was atypical–with its candidate Pablo Longueira quitting–staying 20 points behind the winner is far from being considered even acceptable. Not to mention celebratable, like we saw with Matthei's campaign team after the results were official, the second worst results of the Chilean right since 1990. That the highest aspiration of the right in Chile should be just getting to the second round or stopping the leftist coalition from getting the necessary majorities in the Congress and Senate that would enable them to carry out significant reforms such as the Education Act or the Constitutional amendment doesn't seem reasonable, so it is necessary to analyse how the right has come to this.
The first and only government of the Chilean right since the democratic restoration has been this last term led by Sebastián Piñera. Since its very advent, demonstrating the truth of the famous phrase "we believe in democracy only if we're in office", the left wasted no time in mobilising the street from their supposed moral superiority in order to radicalise positions to coerce government action and, primarily, make it liable of any event or situation taking place in Chile, with the sole purpose of socially and morally isolating the right and getting back to power. During the last election's campaign, seeing how the education system or the social gap in Chile were used for that purpose was indeed grotesque, a divide that, incidentally, never ceased to exist in the 20 years of leftist government, but even more grotesque was the strategy adopted by the right of distancing itself from Piñera's Government. A government that has achieved Chile's best economic records in history and the highest rate of social development.
Matthei's campaign in response to the accusations of the left was based on the denial of the policies of its predecessor instead of, by relying on the country's excellent macro data, strengthening its great legacy, wasting its forces in defending itself against the attacks of the left rather than developing its own program to explain the need to continue on the same road. The result has been a campaign without initiative or leadership that has led to a complete disaffection in the voters of the right, resulting in an conclusion which, albeit expected, was totally disappointing by the lack of conviction in a model that, though successful for Chile, has not been internalised by the members who now had to continue it. There is a fact that should not be overlooked. These elections have been the first in which voting was not compulsory in Chile. It is generally understood that a greater participation in the elections favours the left; by contrast, a greater abstention favours the right. However, with an abstention rate of 55%, the left has achieved one of its best results in history.
For the second round, Matthei needs badly to enter the realm of ideas if she is to have any chance of winning the presidency. It is necessary to correct errors and lead the campaign, believing in values and passing on the convictions that will regain the akin electorate and ensure the continuity of a model that has brought a huge development to the country in the past four years. Responsibility demands it, as the future of Chile is at stake in the second round, but also the stability of the entire region with a Pacific Alliance questioned by all Latin American populist governments and which is still in its infancy. Because the left always radicalises itself when it loses power, but it radicalises even more when it gets back to power in order not to lose it again.