The ruling party would opt for “he who has keeps” in Chillán and San Carlos – La Discusión 2024-04-23 05:34:36

The deadline to register pacts and candidacies for mayoral and gubernatorial primaries – which ends today – is approaching; Some conglomerates have already defined whether they will use the mechanism in any of the twenty-one communes of the Ñuble region.

This is the case of the two main cities in the territory in terms of number of voters, Chillán and San Carlos, where the ruling party would have finally decided to impose the “what has it” criterion, supporting the re-election candidacy of Camilo Benavente (PPD). ) in Chillán, and Gastón Suazo (PS), in San Carlos.

It should be remembered that in the first commune, the PS had raised the name of councilor Brígida Hormazábal, and the Communist Party was promoting councilor Quenne Aitken to compete in an eventual primary with Benavente on June 9.

In the capital of Punilla, meanwhile, within socialism itself, it had been proposed that councilor Rafael de La Cuadra compete in primaries alongside Suazo. Added to them was the option of the communist councilor Lorena Polanco, first majority in 2021.

In this way, the ruling party remains to confirm whether primaries will be held in the communes that had requested the PPD (El Carmen, San Ignacio, Bulnes and San Nicolás); the PS (Chillán Viejo and El Carmen) and the Radical Party (Bulnes and Pemuco).

In Chile Vamos, meanwhile, the holding of primaries is confirmed in the communes of Portezuelo and Coihueco, between the RN and UDI candidates.

A third would still be under discussion. This is San Carlos, where the opposition aspires to recover the mayoral seat left in 2020 by RN Hugo Gebrie, who was dismissed by the Election Qualifying Tribunal.

To achieve this, RN aspires to hold broad primaries, which include its candidate, Nayaret Domínguez (Gebrie’s partner).

In this regard, the UDI does not agree and is fighting for councilor Jorge Silva to be designated as the conglomerate’s sole candidate. It should be noted that in the capital of Punilla there can be a large number of candidates, as in 2021, so facing the elections as pacts is essential to ensure victory.

Communes that renew leadership

Four of the twenty-one communes of Ñuble will be especially contested in the next mayoral elections. This is because their current mayors cannot re-nominate since they have completed their three terms.

These are powerful leaders: Carlos Chandía (RN) in Coihueco, Richard Irribarra (PR) in Quirihue, José San Martín (DC) in El Carmen and René Schuffeneger (RN), in Portezuelo.

In all of them, except in Quirihue, the conglomerates that currently hold the mayor’s office have chosen to define the candidate in primaries, which must be confirmed from the central level starting today.

In this way, fifteen would be the incumbent mayors who would already be confirmed to be present on the October 27 ballot, without having to go through primaries: Camilo Benavente (PPD), in Chillán; Gonzalo Bustamante, (RN) in Bulnes; Julio Fuentes (PR), in Cobquecura; Alejandro Pedreros (PR), in Coelemu; Luis Molina (DC), in Ninhue; Johnson Guiñez (RN), in Pemuco; Patricio Suazo (RN), in San Ignacio; Marcelo Ojeda (UDI), in Pinto; Miguel Peña (DC), in Quillón; Raúl Espejo (PPD), in Trehuaco; Gastón Suazo (PS), in San Carlos; Claudio Almuna (RN) in San Fabián; Víctor Hugo Rice (RN), in San Nicolás; Nicolás Torres (RN), in Ránquil and Rafael Cifuentes (PS), in Yungay.