With his popularity in free fall, Gabriel Boric seeks to settle the controversy over pardons in Chile

61% of the Chilean population disapproves of the management of the current center-left government, 11 points more than 6 months ago, while the president, Gabriel Boric, ranks as the fourth worst-scoring politician, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Center for Public Studies (CEP).

The most popular politicians, among the heterogeneous personalities questioned in the survey, are the mayors of the capital municipalities of Providencia, Evelyn Matthei, and Puente Alto, Germán Codina –both from the conservative opposition party Renovación Nacional (RN)– and the Finance Minister Mario Marcel, with an approval rating of 46%, 45% and 38% respectively.

On the opposite side, the least appreciated leaders are the president of the Communist Party -partner of the government alliance-, Guillermo Teillier, who obtains an approval rating of 11% among the interviewees, and the president of the ultraconservative force Independent Democratic Union ( UDI), Javier Macaya, with 14% approval.

President Boric is in the center of the table, with an approval rating of 23% and a disapproval rating of 61%. f

The disapproval index attributed to the president is surpassed only by the Minister of Social Development and Family, Giorgio Jackson, by the Communist leader himself and by the vice president and government spokeswoman, Camila Vallejo, whose leadership approves only 28%.

The poll was released amid fierce controversy in Chile after the president pardoned 13 people days ago, including a former guerrilla convicted of bank robbery and 12 prisoners of incidents and violence during the 2019 social epidemic.

Boric wanted to keep an election promise and ordered the release of the so-called “prisoners of the uprising”, a group of 12 convicted of crimes during the 2019 social epidemic, together with Jorge Mateluna, a former militant of a guerrilla group who fought the Pinochet dictatorship and was convicted of a bank robbery in 2013.

Since the president could not get the votes of Congress to grant them an amnesty, he opted for the application of the pardon, which is a presidential power recognized by the Constitution.

But his decision sparked a flurry of criticism from the opposition and the Supreme Court.

The president’s response

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This Thursday, from the city of Valdivia, Boric addressed the issue amid questions that arose after the disclosure of the criminal record of one of the prisoners of the revolt.

“The question of pardons throughout the history of Chile has always been controversial,” the president said, quoted by the news site Emol.

“I do not in the least doubt the powers of the Judiciary nor is it my responsibility to interfere with what is stated in the article, I should not refer to the sentences”, he added.

“The pardon is an attribution to which we have appealed by virtue of the powers conferred on me by the Constitution and by the laws, and I hope and I hope that it will serve to repair open wounds in the country”, he concluded, and detailed a series of measures adopted by his government to fight crime.

The highest court said days ago in a statement that “the courts of justice have the power to examine civil and criminal cases, resolve them and enforce the sentence”.

In addition, the centre-right opposition decided withdraw from the negotiating table for a political settlement transversal security at a time when the fear of crime is among the main concerns of Chileans, together with the state of the economy.

The CEP survey showed that crime is the top concern of Chileans, with a 10 percent increase compared to the previous survey.

“Crime continues to top the list of major problems facing citizens, with 60 percent of mentions,” the agency said in its presentation of the study.

Followed by health (32%), retirement (31%) and education (26%), among other issues that should be addressed in the constitutional project that will be implemented this year.

economic pessimism

The opinion of Chileans on cheap brands the worst data in history from CEP surveys: 63% of respondents think the economic situation is bad or very bad, and only 5% see it at a good or very good time.

This opinion contrasts with the assessment that Chileans make of their situation, where 53% say their economy is neither good nor bad, 26% say they are in a bad or very bad position and another 20% say they have a good time. or very good economic moment.

The same gap between their economic vision and that of the country is repeated in the future perspective: 49% think that the country’s economy will worsen in the next year, while 74% believe that their situation will remain the same or will improve over the next year. 2023.

The CEP investigation also asked why the interviewees rejected or approved the constitutional proposal submitted to a referendum on 4 September, in which supporters of the rejection of the new text triumphed.

The main reasons for the “no” were the actions of the voters, the “division that the text would have created” among Chileans and its negative impact on the economy.

Among those who approved the proposed constitution, the most important reasons were to increase social rights, abandon the current constitution approved during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), and “improve coexistence and equality”.

Despite the resounding rejection of the first constitution proposal last September, the majority of Chileans, 37%, still think to this day that a new magna carta can help solve the problems, but that figure has dropped by 19 points since December 2019 .

Conversely, 26% believe that a new constitution will worsen the country’s current situation, a percentage that reached just 6% two years ago.

The survey sample is made up of 1,441 people, interviewed in 140 municipalities in the country between 8 November and 19 December, with a response rate of 62.8%.

Source: Clarin newsroom, with information from agencies

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