Uncertain future
Crahan, Margaret E.
ELECTIONS IN CHILE UNCERTAIN FUTURE PINOCHET'S SHADOW REMAINS ecember 14,1989 in Santa Juana, a small town in rural Chile, was festive. The town square was full of people of all ages talking with...
...Such changes, if possible at all, will depend on continuing solidarity among seventeen political parties and movements making up the Concertacion...
...A year ago, at the time of the October plebiscite on whether to confirm Pinochet as head of state for another nine years or call national elections, the mayor had been accused of attempting to interfere with the vote count...
...Approximately 65 percent of the population is under twenty-five years of age, and a third of all voters are under thirty...
...To accomplish this will require considerable cooperation on the part of the Chilean judiciary which up until the mid-1980s was generally reluctant to act in human rights cases...
...Students also see themselves as critical to the consolidation of democracy...
...Substantial changes in other vital areas will also be difficult to achieve because of restrictions imposed by the 1980 constitution and recent laws...
...Without strong support from such groups, the new government could founder on such controversial issues as how to deal with past human rights violations...
...Such problems tinged public celebrations after the election with worry...
...Since the opposition won only 22 of 47 Senate seats, they will have to persuade some of the center-right to vote with them...
...Public opinion appears to be divided on the issue...
...The town square was full of people of all ages talking with neighbors and watching others make their way to vote for a president and Congress for the first time since the September 11, 1973 military coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power...
...Among the most worrisome anomalies is that General Pinochet will continue as commander in chief of the army...
...As one labor leader put it, politicians should remember that "workers failed to strongly protect Chilean democracy in 1973 because they didn't see it as theirs...
...Hence while Arturo Frei Bolivar of the Concertacion was elected with 36.2 percent of the votes, the other winning candidate, Eugenio Cantuarias Lorrondo of Democracia y Progreso had only 15.5 percent to PAIS ( Partido Amplio de hquierda Socialista) candidate Luis Maira Aguirre's 23.1 percent Such anomalies affected outcomes in other electoral districts as well and will continue to affect the governmental structures when the newly elected president and Congress take over in March 1990...
...The campaign helped reveal the difficulties inherent in rebuilding democracy in Chile in the face of Pinochet's continued presence in government, constitutional and legal restrictions, and the survival of some traditional political elitism...
...And still others go further, contending that all rights violators should be tried and, if convicted, sentenced to the maximum penalties...
...Pinochet recently stated that he would not tolerate any attempt to bring to trial any member of the aimed forces for such violations...
...The day after the election demonstrators, demanding the release of political prisoners and the holding of human rights trials, engaged in skirmishes with police in downtown Santiago...
...This time there were accusations that the progovernment Democracia y Pmgreso forces had engaged in vote buying...
...The relatives of the disappeared assert they want justice, not vengeance...
...Many say they simply want to know the fate of their loved ones, where they are buried, and who was responsible for their deaths...
...To govern, Alywin will probably have not only to modify some of his programs, but also to consolidate a broad popular base...
...The next day several hundred relatives of the disappeared rallied in front of the cathedral and made the same demands...
...Traditionally, senators and deputies in Chile have been drawn from the elite...
...On some matters, this body can supersede the president and Congress...
...More recently an increasing number of judges and magistrates have expressed interest in strengthening Chilean law and judicial practice with respect to human rights...
...Pinochet had favored Santa Juana as the site for major pronouncements and its mayor, Hernan Mosso, was known as a staunch Pinochet ally...
...The law has been used by the military courts to dismiss charges involving disappearances, torture, and murder against members of the armed forces...
...Only by expanding effective popular participation will Chilean democracy survive over the long term...
...It was only because of a quirk in the law that one of the two senators elected from the region was pro-government...
...An important loophole in the law is that until the body of an individual is found the case cannot be closed...
...Labor, students, and community activists have asserted that they continue to be treated as objects of political manipulation rather than as participants in the political process...
...This implies some modification of the Concertaciori's campaign promises, including making all senatorial posts elective, eliminating restrictions on political parties and movements, adding another civilian to the National Security Council and making its role strictly advisory, introducing direct election of local and regional officials, strengthening the legislative branch of government so that it is on a par with the executive, introducing presidential selection of the commander in chief of the armed forces, and strengthening human rights guarantees...
...Whether that will be primarily through the establishment of an investigatory commission, judicial trials, or other mechanisms remains unclear...
...The Vwaria de Solidaridad of the archbishop of Santiago, die principal defender of human rights, has prepared over ten thousand cases involving alleged violations of human rights...
...margaret e. crahan Margaret E. Crahan, Luce Professor of Religion, Power, and Political Process at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, observed the 1988 Chilean plebiscite and 1989 national elections for an international body that specializes in monitoring electoral processes...
...In nearby towns ballots were found to lack the name of the opposition candidate for senator...
...Nevertheless, District 45, in which Santa Juana is located, went solidly for opposition presidential candidate Patricio Aylwin, as well as for opposition candidates for the Chamber of Deputies...
...One group, including some of the newly elected senators and deputies, argues that the best strategy is to forget the past in order to face the future as a united country...
...Without such participation the new government will have difficulty consolidating a solid democratic base sufficient to transcend difficulties...
...Monsignor Alejandro Goic, auxiliary bishop of Conception, and Marta Werner, the director of the archdiocesan Human Rights Department, agree that the Chilean people are going to expect a greater level of incorporation into governmental decision making than in the past...
...In addition, the armed forces' budget is largely exempt from executive or legislative control...
...What is obvious is that the issue cannot be swept under the rug...
...Overall, the attitude is that establishing the truth will help heal the body politic, thereby facilitating redemocra-tization...
...A number of religious leaders and human rights activists take a similar stand...
...The binominal system imposed by the Pinochet government required that for two candidates to be elected from the same list or coalition of parties, the second candidate had to have more than double the the total number of votes of the next highest coalition...
...It was a sign of some change that, rather than forcibly breaking up the demonstration, the police negotiated with the demonstrators concerning which activities would be allowed...
...This covered all members of the armed forces, as well as guerrillas, most of whom had been wiped out by 1975...
...Lacking resources to bring all the cases to trial, the Vicaria's lawyers hope to use some of them to establish legal principles and precedents...
...The situation is complicated because a 1978 law decreed that individuals who committed criminal offenses under the state of siege between September 11,1973 and March 10,1978, be granted amnesty unless they were currently on trial or had been convicted previously...
...Since the remains of most of the several hundred disappeared have never been found, this leaves open the possibility of judicial action...
...Anticipating this, Pinochet recently replaced a number of Supreme Court justices with allies...
...In fact, the entire 1990 national budget that Patricio Aylwin will inherit from the Pinochet government cannot be modified in any way, thereby making the promised expansion of social welfare programs difficult...
...Civil courts have no jurisdiction in such matters...
...High school and university students were essential in helping Chileans register to vote and encouraging them to overcome their fear of political participation...
...While the celebrations were not euphoric, most Chileans are hopeful and focused on incorporating themselves into the process of change...
...The newly elected Congress is no exception...
...As such he will be a member of the National Security Council composed of the four heads of the armed forces, the president, head of the Senate, chief justice of the Supreme Court, and the comptroller general...
...And only in that fashion will the hopes of those who overcame their fear and voted be realized...
...Others insist that ignoring violations will divide the country further and insist that investigations be undertaken in order to establish the facts...
...These include the appointment of nine senators by the outgoing government...
Vol. 117 • January 1990 • No. 1
