The end of a cycle is approaching. The current president of the UDI, Javier Macaya, leaves the leadership of his party in December, because he cannot run again and the general secretary, María José Hoffmann, decided to be a candidate for governor of Valparaíso. The departure of Macaya and Hoffmann ignited the atmosphere in unionism.
- Various manifestations of discomfort. The mythical group of colonels – who were anointed as natural heirs of Jaime Guzmán and who included Pablo Longueira, Andrés Chadwick, José Antonio Coloma and Jovino Novoa – is still active through the former ministers Víctor Pérez and Claudio Alvarado. They are very critical of the management of the current board. The new colonels want a radical change in the community.
RN makes happy calculations. The militants of Renovación Nacional are surprised by the tranquility that reigns in their party, better known as “the chicken coop of the right” a few years ago – how can we forget Carlos Larraín fighting with Mario Desbordes. There are several who draw up happy accounts and refer to surveys in which RN appears 10 points higher than the UDI.
- The loss of two emblematic ones. One of the bills they charge the current UDI leadership is the loss of Las Condes, the main municipal bastion of unionism. “The UDI had three important municipalities in the Metropolitan Region: Las Condes, Lo Barnechea and La Reina; There will only be one left (La Reina) after the municipal elections,” they told me in Chile Vamos. Complicated legacy for the table.
Fewer UDI candidates, but 100% played by the coalition. On the right, several say that the UDI’s problem is that it is disjointed, but inside the store they obviously deny this, arguing that today their work is focused on the success of Evelyn Matthei’s presidential candidacy. Gonzalo Müller explained to me that the party decided to reduce the candidates for councilors in the municipal elections from 2,200 to 1,800, because they made a list with Evópoli. “The important thing is to consolidate our coalition,” Müller assured me.
- The worst moment of the Independent Democratic Union. Today’s UDI is much calmer than a year ago, when the Republicans won the election of constitutional councilors by a landslide. Then, in December, the failure of the republican constitutional proposal brought inner peace to the unionists, because they discovered that Kast’s bet was to have a niche party.
Elections in the UDI. The fight for the presidency of the party in December would be between the deputy head of the caucus and emerging leader, Guillermo Ramírez, and the former president of the Senate and historical colonel, Juan Antonio Coloma. The latter has been insisting for some time that he is on his way out, but a bad result in the municipal elections could force him to assume the leadership of his community again.