The effects of the complaint made by deputy Eric Aedo (DC) against the Segpres installed a red line in La Moneda to adhere to the Comptroller’s instructions for the plebiscite. The accusations of interventionism in favor of the Approval after Jackson called on the ruling parties to send him their proposals to generate a document with “common minimums” – a task that Boric entrusted to him – ended up wearing down the patience of parliamentarians, and, incidentally, that the Comptroller established a legal criterion on the actions of government authorities. “It has not crossed my mind to resign,” said the minister on Friday night.
Background curtain. Three weeks before the exit plebiscite, the Comptroller hit the table with an opinion where he warns Minister Giorgio Jackson that his actions around compiling the proposals of the ruling parties to agree on an improvement to the constitutional text “was not adjusted to the necessary disregard ”. And they warn him to keep in mind the considerations “in the exercise of his functions, henceforth.” From broad political sectors they see it as a kind of “keep in mind” the president himself, who entrusted the task for which the Secretary of State is questioned.
- It all started with an accusation presented by DC deputy Eric Aedo. The parliamentarian accused that the expressions made on August 2 by the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency favored the I approve option. The supervisory body gave the Segpres a period of 3 days to make a statement. Since the complaint was filed, within the Comptroller’s Office the thesis was handled that Jackson, by getting involved in the negotiations, what he was doing was strictly favoring the Approval to the detriment of the Rejection. With this, the Comptroller marks jurisprudence and generates a legal criterion.
- The Comptroller’s Office had already sent a message to La Moneda: They are playing to the limit and, if they continue to cross it, serious effects could be triggered in the remainder of the campaign. Thus, among other inquiries, the one carried out within the Segegob, headed by Minister Camila Vallejo, is the one that generates the most noise in the ruling party.
- Vallejo came out this Friday in defense of Jackson and slipped his differences with the opinion: “Our role as a government is to clarify that we are constantly calling on all sectors to present their proposals because the Segpres not only coordinates, establishes relations with the parties, but also receives proposals of a legislative nature”.
- Eric Aedo added after learning of the resolution that “if Minister Jackson has, as he said, a different scale of values, I hope that in the next few hours he will step aside and resign from the Segpres Ministry for political interventionism in the plebiscite on September 4” .
What does the opinion say? “Consistent background information was brought to light in statements to newscasts and press releases that made public the expressions made on August 2, 2022 by the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency. In them it can be seen that the minister communicated in the media that what is being asked is that, in the case of the I approve option, the parties can send proposals to their State portfolio, adding that they will receive all the ideas to get the common minimums, and that the objective is to be clear about the elements and scenarios that the government will face in conjunction with Congress as of September 5.”
- It is added: “In effect, it is noted that prior to the plebiscite, certain parties that identify with one of the plebiscite options -I approve- were presented with the possibility of formulating proposals to modify the proposal for a new Constitution. in the event of being approved, and without evidence of the antecedents in view or of what was reported by that State portfolio, that that authority has adopted similar measures in relation to the Rejection option”.
Jackson: “It hasn’t crossed my mind to quit.” During the night, Jackson ruled out resigning after the Controlaria ruling. In an interview with T13, the minister stated: “The truth is that we have so much work to do, so many challenges ahead, that it has not crossed my mind to resign.”
- “(The President) has given me his full support in all the tasks that have to be carried out, and we do not have a minute to lose in the challenges that Chile awaits.”
- Hours earlier, in a public statement, Renovación Nacional called for a change of cabinet: “The President must implement urgent changes in his cabinet, and in this way dispel any doubt about his commitment to probity and disregard in the current electoral campaign. ”
The three previous episodes. On April 28, Comptroller Jorge Bermúdez met with President Boric. That same day, he sent instructions to the entire public administration on the limits they must have in electoral matters. It was established that “the Executive cannot assume, in the exercise of the public function, a position on the matter that will be the object of consultation in this new electoral process.” And he added that public officials “cannot use their jobs to favor or harm any of the alternatives consulted on this occasion, either directly or through the tendencies or political parties that support them.”
- The second warning was to the municipalities: “Bearing in mind that the municipalities are prevented from acting outside their powers and from using their property or resources for purposes other than those permitted by law, since such action distracts their action from Its main purpose, which is to satisfy the needs of the local community, the municipalities of Cerro Navia, Maipú and Quinta Normal must initiate a disciplinary procedure in order to investigate the aforementioned facts and determine the administrative responsibilities committed to that effect, sending a copy of the mayor’s decree that so order the Follow-up Unit of the Office of the Comptroller General, within 15 business days, counted from the receipt of this opinion.
- The third to the ministry of Camila Vallejo. Between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 27, the Ministry General Secretariat of Government received a call from the Comptroller. An emissary from Jorge Bermúdez wanted to report that he had just sent an email, instructing the opening of a special investigation into the use of public resources to the General Secretariat of the Government, led by Camila Vallejo, regarding the allegations of intervention election in the face of the plebiscite on September 4.
The defense of the Comptroller. Bermúdez was facing criticism for the Comptroller’s delay in acting, while the government accumulated complaints of electoral interventionism. “But the inspection times have their regulations,” they point out, knowing the tensions. Specifically, the legal head of the Comptroller’s Office, Camilo Mirosevic, chose to disqualify himself from the position until the constitutional plebiscite for being the brother of the deputy and coordinator of the Approve campaign Vlado Mirosevic, a relationship that had sparked criticism given the complaints of interventionism against the government.
- Bermúdez was emphatic about the questions about the times of the organization: “That is a hackneyed criticism, I don’t know if you understand that word, but it is so hackneyed and so unfair. If you review the times of the Comptroller, year after year, they have been decreasing”. And he added: “We as an institution are using, we believe that opportunely.”
- The Comptroller made it clear that his institution acts autonomously, thus delivering a message to the political world and the strong pressure to which it has been subjected. Among some lawyers who know the problem closely, they think that Bermúdez was left in a complex position, given the transition towards the polarization of the campaign and that the organization he directs was left in the middle of the shots. “And no one defends the Comptroller’s Office,” he says.