It was a long-awaited announcement. The president elected in Chile on December 19, 2021, Gabriel Boric (left), unveiled his cabinet on Friday January 21. Its twenty-four ministers, including fourteen women, make up a moderate mosaic, with many technicians and personalities independent of political parties. A casting that specifies the color of the start of the mandate of the next head of state – he will take office on March 11 -, while the youth and eclecticism of his electoral coalition, bringing together the Communist Party at the center left, as well as the ambition of the announced reforms raised many unknowns.
The most observed name: the new Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, 62, President of the Central Bank since 2016, with international academic training, linked to the Socialist Party. He has held various positions in centre-left governments since 1990. “His appointment is a very important signal, he has strong links with the business world and international markets, analysis Jaime Baeza, political scientist at the Institute of Public Affairs of the University of Chile. As President of the Central Bank, he held the line with implacable discipline. It is also proof of transversality: his term of office had just been renewed by [le président sortant de droite] Sebastian Pinera. »
While the economic situation “looks complex, abounds Robert Funk, political scientist within the same institute, Gabriel Boric understands that beyond his long list of electoral promises, the country’s finances must be sound”. The minister’s first project will be tax reform, which the president-elect intends to raise to 5% of GDP, while major social changes – education, pensions and the public health system, in particular – will weigh on the finances of the country. ‘State.
A 35-year-old doctor at the Ministry of the Interior
The Minister of Finance also embodies the prominence given to center-left figures, who are more represented in the government than in Gabriel Boric’s electoral coalition. A clear signal for the negotiations in Congress, where the elected head of state does not enjoy the majority, and where it will be essential to forge links with the pivotal forces of the center.
It is therefore no coincidence that the general secretariat of the presidency, in charge of relations with the Congress, will be occupied by Giorgio Jackson, the right-hand man of the president-elect, also in his thirties and a companion in the struggle of the student movements of 2011. The Communist Party occupies a rather circumscribed but not anecdotal place, in particular with Camila Vallejo as spokesperson – she too from this new generation on the left.
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