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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000484 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KWMNCI
SUBJECT: BATTLE FOR CONGRESSIONAL NOMINATIONS FEATURES OLD FACES, 
STOKES COALITION TENSIONS 
 
Ref:  a) Santiago 432 
b) Santiago 448 
c) Santiago 404 
d) Santiago 126 
e) 08 Santiago 1150 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  In Chile's unusual congressional voting system, 
the two major coalitions are virtually guaranteed to each receive 
one of the two seats in each voting district.  Because of this 
structure, decisions within coalitions about which candidates to run 
in which districts are contentious and competition for a nomination 
is fierce.  At the very time that coalitions are trying to unite 
behind their presidential candidates, they are also facing internal 
battles for congressional nominations.  Meanwhile, both coalitions 
play musical chairs with their congressional nominations:  shuffling 
long-time politicians from one seat to another, while women and 
younger politicians are largely left out.  End Summary. 
 
Binomial Coalition Politics 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The binomial system forces political parties to participate 
in coalitions, generating a system with two main blocs (Ref A).  It 
ensures representation for the minority bloc and the exclusion of 
any parties that are not in the first two vote-getting coalitions 
(the Concertacion and the Alianza).  Occassionally, independent 
candidates have "broken" the binomial system -- current Senate Vice 
President Carlos Bianchi was elected as an independent when he beat 
out the Alianza list for second place in his far southern 
circumscription of Magallanes.  However, the exception still proves 
the rule.  Most Senate circumscriptions and Chamber districts have 
one Concertacion and one Alianza representative in each of the 
seats.  The system also effectively excludes smaller parties, such 
as the Communist Party (PC), which does not receive enough votes to 
beat out one of the two main coalition lists to gain a seat (Ref 
B). 
 
The Nomination: More Important than the Election? 
------------------------------ ------------------ 
 
¶3.  (U) With twenty years of electoral data to crunch, and an 
electoral registry that has changed little since 1988 (Refs C and D) 
party experts can predict with some certainty where their coalition 
will receive most support.  This has led some analysts to argue that 
the negotiation of the congressional candidate lists is the truly 
definitive moment for a potential candidate and for the parties, 
relegating the election itself to a mere confirmation exercise. 
While an exaggeration -- the electorate does serve up surprises -- 
this argument underscores the fundamental importance of 
intra-coalition negotiations for the congressional lists. 
 
¶4.  (U) Because the stakes are so high at this early stage, 
negotiations for congressional list nominations are contentious and 
often acrimonious, serving as a divisive force within coalitions at 
the very moment that the coalitions need to be unifying behind a 
single presidential candidate.  Those wishing to run as independents 
must renounce their party affiliation by July.  Thus April to June 
is a time for tense negotiations, intra-coalition squabbles and 
subsequent calls for unity.  Candidates have until September 12 to 
register, and independents need a certain number of supporting 
signatures, depending on the district, to do so. 
 
Tensions within Alianza Surface in Nomination Battles 
---------------------- ------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Tensions over congressional candidacies have already taken 
their toll in the Alianza.  On April 15, UDI Senator Pablo Longueira 
resigned from Alianza presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera's (RN) 
campaign team.  Longueira's decision was a reaction to RN's 
announcement that it would put up a strong candidate in a 
competitive Santiago district where UDI deputy and current President 
of the Chamber, Rodrigo Alvarez, is also planning to run. 
Longueira's stated reason:  he is going to focus exclusively on the 
congressional campaigns of UDI candidates for deputy and senator 
(Longueira himself is not up for re-election until 2014).  However, 
the real reason is crystal clear to analysts:  RN's decision to run 
Nicolas Monckeberg, currently a popular deputy representing a 
district in southern Chile (and a Harvard grad), in Alvarez's 
district is a clear challenge to the sitting UDI Chamber of Deputies 
 
President. 
 
¶6.  (U) The Alianza has it a bit easier than the Concertacion in the 
negotiating process -- they are a two party coalition that splits 
the list of nominations down the middle, with one UDI and one RN on 
most Alianza congressional lists.  The real fight is at the district 
by district designation of individual candidates and running mates. 
A strong candidate from each Alianza party may want to run in the 
same district, where, unless they manage to double, one of them is 
sure to lose.  On the other hand, since the binomial system ensures 
that the weakest candidate on each list will most likely not be 
elected, each coalition has to convince candidates whose chances are 
slim to none to be running mates. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The battle for nominations only exacerbates tensions 
between UDI and RN.  Historically, Alianza has been plagued by 
disputes and tension, particularly between the more centrist and 
secular RN and the right-wing, staunchly Catholic UDI.  In contrast, 
the Concertacion has been more unified, particularly from the end of 
military rule in 1990 until 2005 or so, according to conservative 
analyst Ena Von Baer.  However, this pattern changed, as potential 
Concertacion presidential candidates vied for the nomination in the 
last year, and Alianza had been able to overcome these tensions and 
had been remarkably cohesive in the last year.  But decisions about 
which candidates each party will nominate in which districts are 
causing old tensions to flare within Alianza.  Both coalitions face 
tense months ahead, as jockeying for nominations will continue until 
the September 12 deadline to register electoral candidates. 
 
Upstart Socialist Presidential Candidate Assembling His Own Team 
-------------------------------- ------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) Upstart presidential contender Marco Enriquez-Ominami, a 
member of the Socialist Party, has burst onto the political scene in 
recent weeks, receiving 8 to 14 percent support in recent polls. 
Now the young deputy, part of a group known as the "unruly deputies" 
for their frequent failure to follow the Concertacion party line, 
has indicated that he intends to form his own list of congressional 
nominees. 
 
¶9.  (U)  Meanwhile, the Concertacion has congressional headaches of 
its own.  The Concertacion and leftist coalition Junto Podemos have 
been trying for weeks to reach an agreement to allow JP candidates 
to run on the Concertacion parliamentary slate (Ref B).  The 
Communist Party agreed to an accord that would allow seven Juntos 
Podemos candidates (five Communists, one Humanist, and one member of 
the Christian Left) to run as part of the Concertacion list, but it 
now looks as if the Juntos Podemos pact is unravelling, leaving a 
Concertacion-Communist Party pact.  The Humanist Party, which was 
disappointed that it could not win agreement for more than one 
nomination, is in talks to join forces with Enriquez-Ominami and his 
supporters; the Green Party; the Independent Regional Party (PRI); 
Alejandro Navarro's Wide Social Movement (MAS); other "unruly" 
deputies; and former members of Chile Primero to form their own 
parliamentary slate. 
 
Where are the New Faces? 
------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (U) Younger politicians have complained about the lack of 
renewal in Chilean politics (Ref E), and the numbers back them up. 
In this year's elections, 88 percent of deputies will either compete 
for reelection or run for the Senate.  The Senate is composed of 60 
percent former deputies.  In the last municipal elections in 
October, only 7 percent of candidates were younger than 35 years 
old.  Only 13 percent of the nation's 120 deputies are under 40. 
The political class that came of age with the transition to 
democracy -- many of whom served in positions of power at a very 
young age -- shows no sign of stepping aside for the newer 
generation.  Consolidated legislators may be able to leave their 
party and run successfully as independents within the binomial 
framework but up-and-coming politicians must have party support if 
they are to compete. 
 
Women Need Not Apply? 
-------------------- 
 
¶11.  (U) Women must also struggle mightily for that all-important 
party nomination.  There are two women senators (one more than in 
 
1953) and 17 women deputies, making women a grand total of 13 
percent of the members of Congress--the lowest average in South 
America.  In this year's election, of the current PS list of 115 
pre-candidates, 17 are women.  RN has proposed two new women on its 
list of pre-candidates.  As one woman deputy running for the senate 
put it, "Every woman that enters [a list] means that a man has to 
step down, so there is no support." 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment:  With elections looming at the end of the year, 
the political parties are in the midst of full-on intra-coalition 
negotiations.  The Longuiera resignation from the Pinera 
presidential campaign is most likely only the first episode in this 
year's congressional list-making drama.  While the machinations of 
the political parties and changing districts of their leading lights 
garner most of the press attention, the real story is that the same 
faces are vying for these jobs, while women and younger politicians 
sit on the sidelines.  End Comment.