The Socialist Party (PS) is experiencing intense days. Between now and February 6, the community has to make a difficult decision: go on a single list with Approve Dignity or stay in the electoral pact with its historical ally -the PPD- and stay with Democratic Socialism.
The encouragement to take that definition is not the best. a sign of that was what was experienced at the meeting of the board of directors this Tuesday. Party sources comment that the meeting, which was scheduled from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., was marked by a strong confrontation between the PS helmsman, Paulina Vodanovicand the general secretary Camilo Escalona.
Both socialist leaders are on different paths. While Vodanovic has conveyed that the PS has to stay with Democratic Socialism, Escalona has defended the opposite thesis, that is, when the time comes – party sources say – the former senator has said that the government should be privileged and, therefore, agree with I approve Dignity.
In this context, sources from the PS table say that Vodanovic hit the table. The lawyer expressed her annoyance due to Escalona’s performance in the political and technical work of searching for candidates and the process to assemble the files with the papers of the aspiring constitutional councilors for the May 7 election. Vodanovic’s concern arose after she requested the background information and Escalona replied that she had no progress to show.
The reproach was so great, say the same sources, that Vodanovic invoked the party’s statutes to intervene in Escalona’s work. Some versions affirm that at that moment the socialist helmsman argued that she had the powers to remove Escalona from the candidate selection negotiations. Along these lines, according to the same versions, Vodanovic argued that the legal obligation to register the list belongs to whoever chairs the party and that if this work is not registering progress, time is running out and in this matter it is not possible to improvise at last minute as the risk of making mistakes is very high.
Since Vodanovic requested this information and realized that the records were not there, he proposed that the vice president Eduardo Bermudez will join Escalona to take the leadership of that work. It was at that moment that other voices at the table expressed how counterproductive that decision could be. Two other sources of the board, meanwhile, say that what Vodanovic asked for was Bermúdez to completely replace Escalona in these functions.
Even Escalona asked for the floor. With a calm tone, the secretary general excused himself by saying that in the face of so much uncertainty in electoral matters, it was impossible to make progress when there were still no definitions on, for example, with whom the electoral pact will be integrated. In addition, sources at the table say, Escalona argued that such a decision had to be made in the political commission.
The tension was installed on the table. For the leaders who are close to Escalona, the matter was perceived as an attempt to get him out of the way and thus isolate his position to agree with Approve Dignity. For other sectors, the matter was far from being a political revenge, but rather it was only a decision of “political management” in the face of a job that is not advancing and that cannot be improvised.
The episode, in any case, crystallized what has been the dynamics of the relationship between Vodanovic and Escalona, which, according to party sources, has not been without tension and, even, would be broken. In fact, in the community they comment that the leader of the PS was annoyed that yesterday the general secretary addressed the issue with the press.
The tense meeting, in addition, took place in the prelude to the meeting of the political commission that is, in principle, scheduled for this Wednesday afternoon, an instance in which it will be defined with whom the PS will agree in case of going on two lists to The elections. In fact, a member of the table asked that the relevance of maintaining that summons be evaluated and proposed moving it to Thursday or Friday. Given this request, Vodanovic was left to analyze the matter.
Asked about the encounter he had with Vodanovic, stagger ruled out that he has been marginalized from the negotiation of the candidates for constitutional counselors. “My functions are unalterable. I, as the party’s general secretary, will continue to defend the policy that the party approved on Saturday: a single list of all the democratic forces of the government conglomerate and hopefully also of the DC”, affirmed the general secretary.
Then he reiterated the point: “My functions are the same as they were yesterday. My job continues to be exactly the same.”
Among the Socialists they comment that all this tension has been marked by the role that Escalona has assumed in recent times. The historic socialist leader – who has chaired the party on three occasions and who has also been a senator and deputy – has moved internally defending a single position: the single list in unity with the government alliance. “Democratic Socialism has its main pillar in our own party, it does not exist if we do not participate”, said the leader on Monday.
In this crusade, a source from the PS political commission acknowledges, “the perseverance of maintaining itself as a preponderant leadership in the party” is evident. Escalona’s insistence on a single list, they admit within the PS, has caused tension and friction in the party. On the one hand, sources close to him comment, his actions are explained not by an electoral calculation but by a “political conviction.” Escalona, say the Socialists, during this time has been characterized as a “governmentist” and that his greatest political banner has been unity.
This could already be appreciated, for example, in the constituent negotiation of the Agreement by Chile. The few times that Escalona participated in the talks, his position was always on the side of I Approve Dignity. In fact, on more than one occasion, he played as a partner with the Social Convergence helmsman, Diego Ibanez. “Escolana has always been a governmentist. Despite her reservations with the Broad Front, she is aware that signals must be given in favor of the government and unity”, comments a parliamentarian from the party.
Another member of the political commission of the PS adds that the activation of Escalona on this issue generates noise in the party. This is because it is considered by some as an attempt to prepare his way to return to preside over the store and overshadow the leadership that Vodanovic has acquired in recent months.
The plot of socialist tension is crossed by the efforts of Approve Dignity to get Democratic Socialism to sign a single electoral list. This negotiation has not been easy and has been marked by strong meetings between both blocks.
The last episode that removed the matter came this Monday and from the President’s party Gabriel Boric. “We propose to set up a new coalition where the socialists assume leadership,” said the Social Convergence helmsmanDiego Ibanezin an interview with El Mercurio.
His proposal was received in a bad way by the PPD. The party that leads Natalia Piergentili -the one that most pushes a separate list of Approve Dignity- considered Ibáñez’s words an affront to Democratic Socialism. The same thinks the Liberal Party. From both communities they consider that it is an open call to break the pact that brings together the PS, PPD, PL and PR.
Even the matter generated noise in the Broad Front itself. RD sources comment that the phrase did not go down well because it is not a matter that has been discussed with the group in the block.
“Party president Diego Ibáñez speaks on behalf of our party, on behalf of our store. What is done there, I would not say that it is a declaration of alliance policies, but rather a reflection that all the parties of the government alliance as a whole have been making about the need we have to rethink the relations we have”, explained the general secretary of CS, Ximena Peralta.