The leader of the Communist Party, Lautaro Carmona, presented on Sunday the conclusions from the 10th Plenary of its Central Committee following Jeannette Jara's electoral defeat to José Antonio Kast in the December 14 runoff. In a speech at the Instituto de Ciencias Alejandro Lipschutz, Carmona acknowledged the candidate's outstanding role and attributed the failure to multifactorial causes, including party coordination and the international context. The party plans to improve its communication and defend social justice proposals in the new political landscape.
On the morning of Sunday, December 21, the Communist Party of Chile (PC) delivered the resolutions from its 10th Plenary Session of the Central Committee, held at the Instituto de Ciencias Alejandro Lipschutz (ICAL). Lautaro Carmona, the party's leader, gave an extensive speech accompanied by General Secretary Bárbara Figueroa and political committee member Juan Andrés Lagos. The meeting addressed the national political scenario after the elections and the party's future projections.
Carmona began by highlighting the 'outstanding role' of Jeannette Jara as the candidate of a coalition larger than the PC. The former Labor Minister, who excused herself from attending, received this acknowledgment. He then addressed the defeat in the December 14 runoff, where José Antonio Kast of the Republican Party secured a victory with a 'tremendous vote.' 'We suffered a harsh political-electoral defeat and this defeat must allow us to correct, draw lessons, try to understand where the most determining causes that explain this situation were (...) we also have to assume the triumph with a tremendous vote for the far-right candidate,' Carmona stated.
On the causes, Carmona stressed there is no single factor but rather 'multifactorial' ones. These included self-criticism of the PC's campaign contribution, coordination among parties, refining the programmatic platform to connect with popular expectations, the current government's actions during the contest, and the international context, such as the 'very violent' offensive by the United States in Latin America. 'We could not decontextualize that this political-electoral battle takes place in a framework of a very violent, direct, invasive offensive, from a material and military point of view, by the United States regarding what they call their backyard,' he explained.
Looking ahead, the PC aims to enhance its communication capacity to reach the majority of the population and develop shared proposals on social justice. Carmona suggested a joint document with other political forces to present to the Chilean people. 'This obliges us to improve our communication capacity (...) And from there will emerge this platform aimed at working by gathering all the lessons so that the government coming into office on March 11 has no possibility, through its own exercise, of lasting beyond four years,' he affirmed, emphasizing the use of democratic resources to represent legitimate demands.
