Brazil & Southern Cone - June 2006 (ISSN 1741-4431)

Prior to her election victory, President Michelle Bachelet promised that if she won she would deliver on 36 campaign pledges in her first 100 days in office. On 16 June, three days before her self-appointed deadline, she declared the policy initiatives had been set in motion. Polls published in two of Chile's conservative papers suggested the public was less convinced and showed the president's approval rating taking a significant hit. Despite scoring a healthy 56%, the rating was down 11% on May. This, however, was less a result of public scepticism over her policy targets than a consequence of the government's failure to deal effectively with student protesters whose demands for a reform of Chile's education system prompted the largest demonstration in a generation.

The protests

Around one million demonstrators took to the streets across the country on 5 June in the so-called "Revolution of the Penguins", in reference to the students' uniforms. The first protests had taken place three weeks previously when thousands of students demonstrated in demand of free transport, the waiver of the fee for the university entrance exam (PSU) and a restructuring of the school day. Over six hundred students were arrested during the initial protests and several injured. The education minister, Martí­n Zilic, antagonised the demonstrators with his apparently disingenuous regret over police heavy-handedness and his haughty attitude to the students' demands.

Enraged, the students' numbers and demands swelled. At the end of May around 600,000 demonstrators, consisting of high school and university students as well as parents and trade unionists, marched in support of the students' expanded list of demands, which included the wholesale reform of the Ley Orgánica Constitucional de Ensenanza (Loce), one of the last laws passed during the Pinochet regime. Again, the huge number of arrests and dozens of injuries prompted accusations of police brutality. Bachelet responded swiftly by publicly apologising and firing several high-ranking police officers.

On 1 June the government partially acceded to the students' wishes. Bachelet appeared on national television and radio to say that the state would fund the PSU and transport costs for the poorest 80% of Chile's students. The president agreed to increase the number of free school meals and scholarships; repair dilapidated facilities in the public school system and establish a committee to study comprehensive reform of the Loce. The finance minister, Andrés Velasco, said the plan would cost US$137m annually, with the funding coming initially from existing government revenues and thereafter from windfall copper profits. Part of the students' anger comes from the government's parsimony in an era of record high prices for copper, Chile's most valuable export.

Unsatisfied with the representation given to "social activists" on the Loce reform committee, the students called once again for a national strike. This time one million people took to the streets, much to the president's exasperation. "It is unfortunate that we are facing a national strike today, because to me it seems unnecessary. The students have made their demands felt and I recognised them as legitimate and fair," she said. The government acquiesced no further and by the second week of June the protests had petered out.

Beforehand, however, Bachelet took the unusual step of criticising her own cabinet for its failure to react faster to the demonstrations. "I need a government which anticipates problems, not one which only reacts to them." Zilic gave an interview to the local press in which he said he had no intention of resigning but would do so if the president asked. Some local analysts are speculating that Bachelet will reshuffle her cabinet in September. 

The first 100 days

Among the president's achievements in her first days in office are the creation of new ministries of the environment and public safety, an increased number of nurseries and new employment programmes for the poorest sectors. She also raised state pensions by 10% and improved health coverage for senior citizens. According to the government, 18 of the 36 measures have already become bills that are being analysed by congress. However, the public were less convinced by Bachelet's "mission accomplished" statement. A poll by the rightwing daily El Mercurio found that 60.1% believed Bachelet had partially completed the 36 measures; the conservative La Tercera found that 70% did not consider the president to be responsible for her failure to implement fully all the policy initiatives. 41% of respondents considered that the president "commanded authority" and rightwing commentators in the local press argued that the president's concessions to the students' demands could open the floodgates to other sectors demanding more funding. An important statistic was the 74% of those polled who believed Bachelet should reshuffle her cabinet.

One of the main reasons cited for scepticism over the president's achievements is her failure to deliver her most eye-catching initiative: reform of Chile's binominal electoral system. Under this system coalitions field two candidates per electoral district. Both candidates win only if their coalition receives twice as many votes as the second-placed coalition. The system was designed to eliminate fringe political parties and benefit Chile's Right, since after the return to democracy, the Alianza por Chile has often finished second, but ended up with the same number of seats as the Concertación. 

Following a meeting of the leaders of the two Alianza parties, Unión Democrática Independiente (UDI) and Renovación Nacional (RN), on 15 June the coalition decided to oppose the government's plans to expand the number of deputies and senators (currently 120 and 38, respectively) as well as apply an electoral system which is more proportionally representational. The president of the RN, Carlos Larraí­n, said that the bill was indicative of "the Left coalition's impulse to achieve total power".