MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First time ever Chile Senate deputy chair goes for Magallanes

Senator Carlos Bianchi

Political turmoil in the Chilean ruling coalition which has left President Michelle Bachelet without a majority in the Senate has meant that for the first time Magallanes region, in the extreme south of the country, will have a deputy speaker in the upper house beginning March 2009.

Magallanes region Senator Carlos Bianchi together with other independent Upper house members reached an agreement with the opposition coalition Alliance for Chile and will share the presidency and deputy chair for a two year period. This is considered historic for Chilean politics because since the return of democracy in 1990 the ruling coalition, Concertacion that has dominated Congress, will not hold any of the two clue chairs and for the first time opens the way for an independent Senator. "There was a permanent exchange between (the ruling) Concertación and (opposition) Alianza with the government making desperate efforts not to be left out of the Senate leadership. But Alianza recognizes that the political scenario in Chile is changing, independents are surging and people are saying "enough is enough", so they decided to talk with our growing force", revealed Senator Bianchi. "Mind you it was three weeks of intense negotiations, it had an ingenious outcome but this is not a political pact since it does not include how we vote for the different projects and bills", added Bianchi who underlined that "we didn't want to commit the same mistakes of the political parties". Senator Bianchi said that the negotiations did not include the leadership of the Lower House.