Chile’s Local Elections Marked by Swing toward Opposition, Low Turnout

In an indicator of how voters may swing in the November 2013 federal elections, President Sebastián Piñera’s ruling center-right party saw widespread losses in yesterday’s countrywide municipal elections. The vote debuted legislation that passed January 2012, automatically registering all of the electorate 18 and older to vote—though it did not make voting compulsory. And while this restructuring of the electorate was an attempt to bring more citizens into Chile’s democratic process, the municipal elections saw disappointing participation, hovering just over 40 percent. This accounts for one million fewer voters than in the previous municipal elections.

The elections, which nationwide saw 345 mayors’ offices and 2,224 local council seats up for grabs, gave the center right 37.47 percent of the vote, while the opposition Concertación bloc won 43.1 percent. This meant real losses of 23 municipalities out of 144 held by the governing coalition across the country. The ruling conservative coalition did win or hold onto the city mayoralties of Antofagasta, Rancagua, Temuco, and Valparaiso.

Demonstrating that Chile’s political history continues to color the present, the opposition’s Carolina Tohá, daughter of deposed socialist leader Salvador Allende’s vice president, won Santiago’s seat to become mayor of the key municipality. Meanwhile, former Augusto Pinochet domestic intelligence chief Cristian Labbé lost upper-middle-class Providencia municipality in downtown Santiago. Furthermore, Allende’s Cuban-raised granddaughter beat the conservative incumbent to win the Santiago district of Nuñoa. And, in perhaps a sign that Chile is moving away from the conservative values of older generations, Valparaiso elected its first transgender council member and Providencia’s Council now includes an openly gay member.

The new elections system means all Chileans are automatically enrolled to vote when they turn 18, but are not legally forced to do so. This is a switch from the previous system, in which registering was optional but, once registered, voting was mandatory. The old system was criticized for discouraging people to sign up due to fines of up to $150 for missing an election. A bipartisan Senate agreed on the changes as both sides felt the restructured electorate was to their advantage: observers say the center-left bloc could benefit from having more young people automatically enrolled while Piñera’s conservative coalition would gain from the fact that older voters are seen as more likely to vote when participation is voluntary. The new voting laws increased the electorate from 8.1 million to 13.4 million potential voters. However, the 40.54 percent of the electorate that came out to vote was a historically low number. Those who didn’t appear were most likely not interested in the election, says University of Chile public affairs professor Robert Funk, adding that, "[I]n this new system, the people who vote are the hard line of both sides."

In televised remarks following initial results on Sunday night, Piñera expressed his concerns over the future of Chile’s democratic process and the large number of absentees: “I hope we all have a moment to reflect on this, because a democracy where the great majority does not participate is a democracy that starts to lose its strength and legitimacy.” However, Chilean political scientist Patricio Navia writes in La Tercera that in advanced democracies with voluntary voting, municipal elections attract fewer people than presidential votes. He also writes that neither party can claim “the voice” of those who didn’t vote, saying: “[T]o assume absentee voters are unhappy with the system is as incorrect as claiming they are citizens not interested in politics because things are going well.”

In other elections news:

• In the October 28 run-offs of Brazil’s country-wide municipal elections, the governing Workers Party’s Fernando Haddad won control of the city of São Paulo with 56 percent of the vote versus political veteran José Serra’s 44 points. Bloggings by Boz outlines five key points about the second round of Brazil’s municipal vote.
• Chilean government spokesperson Andrés Chadwick announced October 29 that the president would reshuffle his cabinet by November 11 as ministers wishing to become elected parliamentarians ahead of next year’s presidential elections must renounce their positions by November 16.
• A recent poll by Latino Decisions sees U.S. President Barack Obama leading the polls with Latino voters with a 52-point lead, which, if sustained until election day, would beat the president’s lead in the last election by six points.
• A number of news sources are reporting about whether Florida’s Puerto Rican population could determine the outcome of the U.S. presidential vote—though which way it might swing remains unclear. The Washington Post profiles the voting bloc, explaining why it’s so unpredictable to call and how Florida’s 900,000 Puerto Rican residents could reshape the state’s—and the country’s—politics. The American Prospect takes a closer look at Florida’s fast-growing Osceola county, home to a rising Puerto Rican population and which has been a “swarming with voter-mobilization drives and drowning in political advertisements.” UPI reminds readers why the candidates are going after this swing bloc: Florida’s 2000 vote was decided by fewer than 1,000 ballots.