MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's Labor Minister Zaldívar resigns over pension reforms

Zaldívar's intentions to leave her job were no surprise

Chile's Labor Minister María José Zaldívar submitted her resignation Wednesday to President Sebastián Piñera, who accepted it and announced he would appoint Deputy Patricio Melero to succeed her.

Melero, 64, who has served in Parliament since the 1990s and was not eligible for reelection, is to be sworn in Thursday at 5pm local time.

He has been Speaker of the House in 2011 and chaired the Independent Democratic Union party between 2012 and 2014. He was actively involved in pension reforms and sat on the House's Labor Commission.

He was also mayor of Pudahuel between 1985 and 1989

Zaldívar's intentions to leave her job were no surprise as the pension reform failed to go her way. ”I highlight her tireless effort to carry out the reform of the pension system to improve the benefits of millions of current and future pensioners and lay the foundations for a fairer, more supportive pension system with better pensions,” said Piñera.

But Senate Speaker Adriana Muñoz of the opposing Party for Democracy (center left), expressed her dissatisfaction: “It seems complex to me to continue holding this debate with a government that changes our interlocutors every three months.”