Nueva Mayoría

New Majority
Nueva Mayoría
Leader Michelle Bachelet
Founded April 30, 2013
Headquarters Santiago de Chile
Political position Centre-left[1][2][3][4] to Left-wing[5]
Deputies
67 / 120
Senate
21 / 38
Communes
170 / 345
Party flag
Politics of Chile
Political parties
Elections
Michelle Bachelet, presidential candidate and leader of the Nueva Mayoría.

The Nueva Mayoría (Spanish for New Majority) is a Chilean electoral coalition created in 2013 and composed mainly of centre-left political parties supporting the presidential candidacy of Michelle Bachelet in the 2013 election.[6]

Political objectives

Michelle Bachelet has stated that a principal objective of the Nueva Mayoria coalition will be to achieve and establish a system of universal and free access to higher education within a time frame of six years.[7]

The first time the name of the new coalition was mentioned on March 27, 2013, when Bachelet agreed to be presidential candidate for the primary coalition. On that occasion, she asked that her eventual administration was "the first government of a new social majority".[8]

Composition

The coalition consists of the four principal parties of the Concert of Parties for Democracy, namely, the Socialist Party of Chile (PS), the Christian Democratic Party (Chile) (PDC), the Party for Democracy (PPD) and the Social Democrat Radical Party (PRSD). In addition, the Nueva Mayoría also includes the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), the Citizen Left (IC), the Broad Social Movement (MAS) and centre-left independents.[6] In March 2014, the regionalist Northern Force Party joined the Nueva Mayoría.[9]

Party Spanish Leader
Broad Social Movement Movimiento Amplio Social Alejandro Navarro
Christian Democratic Party Partido Demócrata Cristiano Ignacio Walker
Citizen Left Izquierda Ciudadana Víctor Osorio Reyes
Communist Party Partido Comunista Guillermo Teillier
Party for Democracy Partido por la Democracia Jaime Quintana
Social Democrat Radical Party Partido Radical Socialdemócrata José Antonio Gómez
Socialist Party Partido Socialista Osvaldo Andrade
Northern Force Party Partido Fuerza del Norte Mandiza Barbaric

Presidential elections

Presidential primary candidates of the Nueva Mayoría

The Nueva Mayoría coalition was registered on April 30, 2013 with the Chilean Electoral Service (SERVEL).[10] The Coalition held its primaries on June 30, where Michelle Bachelet (PS) won with 73% of the vote to become the sole presidential candidate of the bloc,[11] defeating the independent Andrés Velasco, who won 13% of the preferences, to Claudio Orrego (PDC), which stood at 8.86%, and radical José Antonio Gómez, who reached 5.06%.[12] The pact got more than two million votes from a total of three millions of voters - tripling the votes obtained by the Alliance.[13]

Initially the coalition intended to hold its primary elections on June 30, 2013, however this was annulled because parties failed to reach an agreement regarding their nomination. However, after several negotiations an agreement was reached to commence partial and complete primaries in some districts on August 4, 2013.[14]

After the primaries, Bachelet went straight to the election process, in which she competed with eight other candidates,[15] the highest number in Chilean electoral history.[16] In those elections, the leader of the coalition achieved a 46.70% of votes, not enough for an absolute majority nationwide,[17][18] so she had to face a runoff with the candidate of the Alliance, Evelyn Matthei,[19] where finally she won with 62.16% of the vote.[20][21] This victory marked the first re-election of a woman in office,[22] in addition to the return of the center-left government after four years of the administration of Sebastián Piñera.

References

  1. ↑ Cussen, Celia (28 June 2013), "In Chile’s Sunday elections, the real race is for second place", Washington Post
  2. ↑ "Ex-Leader of Chile Wins Primary in Bid to Return", The New York Times, 30 June 2013
  3. ↑ Jarroud, Marianela (20 August 2013), Chile’s Women Candidates, Not Two of a Kind, Inter Press Service
  4. ↑ "Two candidates popularly selected in Chile's first presidential primary", The Guardian, 1 July 2013
  5. ↑ Bachet, Alexandre (1 July 2013), "Chile: Michelle Bachelet Wins Opposition’s Primary Election", The Argentina Independent
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Acuña, Patricia (29 April 2013). ""Nueva Mayoría" se denominará pacto presidencial opositor para la primaria del 30 de junio" (in Spanish). BioBio Chile. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  7. ↑ "Bachelet aseguró que uno de sus objetivos es lograr la gratuidad en educación en seis años" (in Spanish). CNN Chile. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  8. ↑ "Bachelet confirma repostulación a La Moneda: "He tomado la decisión de ser candidata"" (in Spanish). La Tercera. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  9. ↑ "Alcalde Jorge Soria y su partido Fuerza del Norte se suman a la Nueva Mayoría". La Tercera (in Spanish). 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  10. ↑ "Representantes de los abanderados de la oposición llegan al Servel para inscribir candidaturas" (in Spanish). La Tercera. 30 April 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  11. ↑ "Bachelet reafirma que habrá nueva Constitución y apuesta a ganar en primera vuelta" (in Spanish). El Mostrador. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  12. ↑ "Bachelet arrasa en pacto "Nueva Mayoría" con un 73%" (in Spanish). Terra Chile. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "Siete de cada diez chilenos votó por el Pacto Nueva Mayoría" (in Spanish). La Tercera. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  14. ↑ "Falta de acuerdo hace fracasar primarias parlamentarias de la oposición" (in Spanish). La Tercera. 1 May 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  15. ↑ "Elección Presidencial 2013". servel.cl. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  16. ↑ "Récord de nueve candidatos están inscritos para las presidenciales 2013". CNN Chile. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  17. ↑ "Michelle Bachelet no alcanza mayoría absoluta y va a segunda vuelta con Evelyn Matthei". Duna FM. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  18. ↑ "Bachelet gana en todas las regiones de Chile y en nueve de ellas alcanza mayoría absoluta". EMOL. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  19. ↑ "Bachelet y Matthei definirán la Presidencia de Chile en segunda vuelta". TeleSur. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  20. ↑ "Michelle Bachelet: El perfil de la líder socialista que gobernará Chile por segunda vez". EMOL. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  21. ↑ "Bachelet, de perfil". La Tercera. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  22. ↑ "Con más del 62%, Bachelet se convierte en la primera mujer en ser reelecta: "Chile ha decidido que es momento de iniciar transformaciones"". Diario Financiero. Retrieved 16 December 2013.

External links