Sending Them Packing…the Chilean Way
May 8, 2015
On Wednesday, President Bachelet announced that she had asked all of her cabinet ministers to submit their resignations—and that she would decide who stays and who leaves in the next 72 hours. So far, she has only confirmed that Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz will stay in office. This move is, essentially, an outgrowth of a series of political scandals that have unfolded in Chile in recent months—scandals that have wreaked havoc on confidence in government, on political stability, and on Bachelet’s approval ratings, currently in the low 30s. Chileans are loudly demanding change, and the president’s cabinet overhaul is meant to deliver that change. But ultimately, Bachelet’s decision doesn’t bode well for Chile. And a lot of that has to do with how the news was delivered.
First of all, President Bachelet announced the cabinet overhaul in a televised interview with popular late-night host Don Francisco—not the heavy-weight format we might expect for a major governing decision, particularly from a president who only a couple of weeks ago told another interviewer she would not announce a cabinet shuffle in a televised interview.
Second, Bachelet—who claimed she has not yet thought through what the new cabinet would look like—gave herself a very tight timeline for making up her mind—just 72 hours. In a country where cabinet posts are given out as part of a complex political jockeying process among the many parties that make up the governing coalition, her back is against the wall. The clock is running out, and time is not on her side.
Third, this move is meant to show Bachelet’s commitment to reforming the way government is run in Chile—particularly with respect to corruption and abuse of power. But her timing and strategy reveal a troubling political deafness on the president’s part. Bachelet seems to be blaming the low popularity of her political reforms on cabinet members and not on the content of the reforms themselves.
And fourth, who she picks to replace her cabinet is the end-all. According to University of Chile scholar and CSIS nonresident senior associate Robert Funk, “If she leans toward the old-school political elite instead of up-and-coming fresh faces, she has the potential to unravel the fundamental narrative of her government—one of renovation and institutional renewal. Her attempts to co-opt the spirit of the social movements will have proved a failure. If, on the other hand, she continues naming young, untested figures, she will be unable to correct the mistakes of the past year and half, which many have blamed on political inexperience and ideological fervor.”
Ultimately, Chile is at an inflection point. Political scandal, a crisis in confidence in the government, and President Bachelet’s apparently hasty stewardship in the midst of major changes in Chile make it clear that change is necessary. Adding uncertainty in the midst of crisis sets a worrying precedent for the rest of President Bachelet’s leadership—not to mention for Chile’s place as a regional outlier in stability and prosperity.
Carl Meacham is director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
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