Broad Front (Chile)

The Broad Front (Spanish: Frente Amplio, FA) is a Chilean political coalition founded in early 2017, composed of left-wing parties and movements. Its first electoral contest was the 2017 Chilean general election, where their presidential candidate Beatriz Sánchez came third with 20% of the vote in the first round of election (she just missed getting to the second-round run-off by 3%). The Broad Front also expanded their electoral representation to 20 deputies (out of 155), 1 senator (out of 43) and 21 out of 278 Regional Councillors, thus consolidating the movement as the 'third force' in Chilean politics.

Broad Front

Frente Amplio
LeaderBeatriz Sánchez
Founded21 January 2017
HeadquartersSantiago de Chile
IdeologyProgressivism
Participatory democracy
Left-wing populism[1][2][3]
Factions:
Autonomism
Eco-socialism
Socialism of the 21st century
Democratic socialism
Political positionLeft-wing[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] to far-left[12][13]
Deputies
12 / 155
Senate
1 / 43
Mayors
3 / 345
Website
www.frente-amplio.cl

Platform and ideology

The Broad Front's Declaration of Principles states five central aims as their reasons for political action:

  1. Promote an inclusive country, that respects the environment and safeguard social rights (such as education and healthcare).
  2. Move away from neoliberal economic policies and towards a socialist model of development.
  3. Create an alternative to challenge the center-left and center-right political coalitions that have ruled Chile since the end of the Pinochet regime.
  4. Promote the unity of diverse progressive forces and ensure their political independence from corporate power.
  5. Build a participative democracy.[14]

Although it has the same name as the center-left coalition from Uruguay, political analysts tend to see the Broad Front as more similar to the Spanish left-wing populist party Podemos.[15] Diverging views exist within the coalition. Some members, such as Liberal Vlado Mirosevic argued the coalition cannot be "broad" if only includes left-leaning forces.[16] On the other hand, presidential primary candidate Alberto Mayol highlighted the fact that a clear "leftist tradition" exists in most of the coalition members.[17]

History

The Broad Front's origins lay in the 2011 Chilean student movement - the second biggest social protest in the country's recent history since the restoration of democracy in 1990 after 2019's protests. Student demands centered on the right to free education and led to months of school and university occupations across Chile, which continued for several years. Within the student movement, new political forces began to emerge, displacing traditional forces (such as the Communist Youth and center-left groups) at the head of high school and university unions and federations. Among them where Giorgio Jackson at the Catholic University and Gabriel Boric at the University of Chile.

In the 2014 Chilean general election, both Jackson and Boric became MPs after running as independents and defying both traditional coalitions: the center-right Chile Vamos and the center-left Nueva Mayoría (formerly, Concertación). Along with Vlado Mirosevic (Liberal Party), Jackson and Boric were currently the only Broad Front MPs at the moment of the alliance's constitution.

At early 2016, it was reported that Boric and Jackson held talks with several political and social movements in order to create a "broad left front" of anti-establishment forces, aiming to have a parliamentary list and a presidential candidate for the 2017 general elections.[18] By August 2016, Boric's Autonomous Movement (Movimiento Autonomista) and Jackson's Democratic Revolution made a formal alliance with the Libertarian Left, New Democracy and the Humanist Party.[19] After the October 2016 municipal elections, Jorge Sharp (from the Autonomist Movement) became the first political independent to rule Chile's third largest city: Valparaiso. Sharp's rise began as a grassroots initiative, running with several other left-wing candidates in a "citizen primary", described by The Guardian as a "quiet revolution against politics-as-usual".[20]

In January 2017 the Broad Front was formally established by eleven political forces.[21] Discussions began on how to choose a presidential nominee. Initially, the coalition was in favor of implementing an online referendum, but later decided in favor of participating in the legal primary process, since this would give them the chance to engage in a real electoral test and obtain national coverage at the same level as their well-established rival political coalitions. Since most of the Broad Front forces were movements lacking official status as political parties, the bloc decided to collect thousands of signatures to grant Democratic Revolution official political party status and use it to apply for the primaries. In May 2017, Democratic Revolution submitted close to 49 thousand signatures to the Electoral Service, thus qualifying for implementing primaries.[22]

In June 2017, Constanza Valdés became the spokesperson for the Broad Front. She was the first trans spokesperson for a political organization.[23]

The primaries took place as part of the July 2017 Chilean presidential primaries. Beatriz Sanchez, a popular journalist nominated by the majority of the Broad Front forces, obtained 67.56%, beating sociologist Alberto Mayol, who obtained 32.44%. 327,716 people voted in the Broad Front primary (a small number compared to the 1,418,138 who decided to vote for the right-wing Chile Vamos candidates).[24]

As of September 2017 — and according to several opinion polls — Beatriz Sanchez was fighting closely with Nueva Mayoría candidate, Alejandro Guillier, to make it into the second round of and face right-wing billionaire and former president Sebastian Piñera.[25]

The Broad Front presented several candidates for the Chamber of Deputies and Regional Councils, as well as some for the Senate. Among the notable figures were (besides those currently serving as MPs at that time) former presidential candidate Tomás Hirsch, journalist Pamela Jiles, student leaders such as former FECh president Camila Rojas and several others.[26]

Finally, in the November general election, Sánchez came third with 20% of the vote — just missing getting into the second-round by 3%. This was the best performance of any non-traditional left-wing candidate since the return to democracy. The Broad Front also expanded their electoral representation from 3 to 20 deputies, one senator and 21 Regional Counselors, thus consolidating the alliances as the "third force" of Chilean politics.

Composition

The coalition consists of five (5) political parties and movements:

Party Spanish Leader Deputies Senators
Democratic Revolution Revolución Democrática (RD) Catalina Pérez
5 / 155
1 / 43
Social Convergence Convergencia Social (CS) Alondra Arellano
4 / 155
0 / 43
Commons Comunes Jorge Ramírez
2 / 155
0 / 43
UNIR Movement Movimiento UNIR Lorena Fries
1 / 155
0 / 43
Common Force Fuerza Común (FC) Fernando Atria
0 / 155
0 / 43

References
  1. Ojeda y Poblete (2017): El Populismo de Izquierda como práctica política: potencialidades y límites Archived March 13, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Revista Trama de debate teórico-político.
  2. Revista FPP (2017): Ese extraño animal llamado populismo. Revista Frente Para el Progreso.
  3. Gómez, P. (2017): Pistas para entender si el populismo amenaza a Chile. Plataforma de análisis político-liberal.
  4. "Chile polls pit billionaire against ex-news anchor". BBC News. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  5. Kozak, Piotr (21 November 2017). "Chile faces new political landscape as leftwingers dent billionaire Piñera's hopes". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  6. TVEVAD, Jesper (April 2019). "Chile: the government struggles to implement its reform programme" (PDF). European Parliament. Retrieved 22 October 2019. She stood for the Broad Front (Frente Amplio), a left-wing coalition of six political parties and various social and political movements, which took a critical line against both Michelle Bachelet's governing centre-left coalition and the opposition.
  7. Le Saux, Marianne (21 December 2017). "Chile is Not Saved". NACLA. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  8. Encarnación, Omar (9 May 2018). "The Rise and Fall of the Latin American Left". The Nation. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  9. Sanders, Philip (22 August 2017). "Why Chile's Election Could Still Deliver a Surprise". Bloomberg. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  10. Bellolio, Cristóbal (28 November 2017). "Chile heads into presidential runoff with a transformed political landscape". The Conversation. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  11. Slattery, Gram (3 July 2017). "Chile's Pinera cruises to primary win, solidifying front-runner status". Reuters. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  12. "Chile's momentous referendum on its constitution". The Economist. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020. |first= missing |last= (help)
  13. Dube, Ryan (24 October 2020). "Chile to Hold Referendum on Rewriting Pinochet-Era Constitution". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  14. "¿Quiénes Somos? | Frente Amplio". frente-amplio.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  15. S.A.P., El Mercurio (2017-05-19). "¿Podemos o Uruguay?: Expertos analizan el origen de "la inspiración" del Frente Amplio | Emol.com". Emol (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  16. "Vlado Mirosevic y el Partido Liberal advierten al Frente Amplio: "No puede ser sólo de izquierda"". www.facebook.com/eldesconciertocl/ (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  17. "Alberto Mayol: "No podemos renegar que somos una coalición de izquierda" « Diario y Radio Uchile". radio.uchile.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  18. "Jackson y Boric dan los primeros pasos para formar un frente amplio de izquierda — Revista Qué Pasa". Revista Qué Pasa (in Spanish). 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  19. "EyN: RD y Boric oficializan nuevo referente y se distancian de Nueva Mayoría". www.economiaynegocios.cl. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  20. Franklin, Jonathan (2016-10-21). "Chile's young independents lead quiet revolution against politics-as-usual". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  21. "El Frente Amplio lanzó plataforma con once agrupaciones". Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  22. Comunicaciones, Compañia Chilena de. "Frente Amplio inscribió sus primarias ante el Servel". Cooperativa.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  23. "Constanza Valdés, primera mujer trans en ser vocera de una coalición política, critica la ignorancia en el Congreso". El Desconcierto (in Spanish). June 16, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  24. Comunicaciones, Compañia Chilena de. "Sin sorpresas: Sebastián Piñera y Beatriz Sánchez son los ganadores de las primarias". Cooperativa.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  25. S.A.P., El Mercurio (2017-09-01). "¿Empatados? Beatriz Sánchez disputa codo a codo el segundo lugar con Alejandro Guillier | Emol.com". Emol (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  26. "Estas son todas las candidaturas del Frente Amplio al Parlamento". www.facebook.com/eldesconciertocl/ (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-09-15.
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