Sebastián Piñera promulgated the law that postpones the constituent elections in Chile to May 15 and 16

The President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, on Tuesday promulgated the law which postpones for five weeks the elections of mayors, governors and voters initially scheduled for April 10 and 11. following the advance of the pandemic in the Andean country.

“It did not seem prudent or practical to hold an election next weekend,” Piñera said at La Moneda Palace, nine days after the announcement of the proposed postponement of the elections to May 15 and 16.

“The reasons why our government had to promote this postponement are very solid and are essentially two: take care of the health of our compatriots and, secondly, take care of the health of our democracyAdded the president.

The delay in approving the postponement of the elections – the largest in recent Chilean history, with more than 16,700 candidates – was due to differences in certain details between the ruling party and the opposition.

After a long debate lasting several days, the parliamentarians decided to suspend the electoral campaigns until April 28 and that the mayors who had left their functions to stand for the elections return to them until April 15.

The deputies and senators, however, rejected declaration as holidays of election days, cancellation during the deferral period of bank interest for candidates who requested credits to carry out the campaign and free transportation to encourage participation.

“I regret that this is not an inalienable vacation. The people who will work will depend on the will of the employers and will have to go to vote in just two hours “, said Socialist Senator Isabel Allende.

The decision was made on the basis the intense epidemic of the pandemic in Chile, where, despite the rapid vaccination process – with more than seven million people inoculated with at least one dose – daily records were regularly recorded.

Figures over 8,000 new infections in 24 hours are higher than in the first wave.

In addition, the appearance in the country of new variants of the virus, the strong demand in which the intensive care units in hospitals -with 95% occupancy-, and that the The scientific community has expressed itself unanimously in favor of the postponement of the election.

According to Piñera, all these considerations “provided for a strong abstention from citizenship if the elections were held next weekend, and high abstention undoubtedly affects the health of our democracy ”.

The president promulgated the regulations a few hours after the Congress managed to rush the bill, which had to bypass a joint committee of senators and deputies as a final legislative step., while failing to bridge the differences between the two chambers, focused mostly on other practical aspects of the resolution.

The postponement also implies that the second round of the elections of regional governors – a post of new election, since they were until now appointed by the executive – take place from May 9 to June 13, while the presidential primaries will take place on July 18.

The Chilean government believes that The first effects of the vaccination will be noticeable in mid-April and he is convinced that for the next elections in May there will be 9.3 million people with at least one dose.

With information from AFP, EFE

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