by Nueva Sociedad.
In 2016, a nascent coalition shook Chilean politics with an unexpected victory in the municipality of Valparaíso. The following year, despite discouraging electoral forecasts, the new coalition managed to consolidate itself with a surprising result in the presidential and parliamentary elections, in which it won 20 seats in the lower house and one in the Senate.
The Frente Amplio (FA), whose young leaders emerged in the heat of the 2011 student demonstrations, included a diversity of collectives and parties from across a broad political and ideological spectrum. After its initial success, there was much speculation about its ability to continue growing and become a force in the government. The FA’s first two years were marked by internal breakdowns and bids [for power] that eroded its image. Amid these squabbles, towards the end of 2019, Chile erupted into an unprecedented social uprising that brought millions of people to the streets and—together with the heavy erosion of the political institutionality constructed in the post-dictatorship transition—abruptly slashed the approval rating of President Sebastián Piñera’s government. Many things explained this uprising, but the all-out criticism of the entire political party system and the denunciation of the blind spots in the transition to democracy were undoubtedly fundamental elements. At first, it seemed like criticism of the traditional parties could translate into support for new organizations like the FA, but it didn’t turn out this way. The public also targeted those who had previously challenged the reigning political order.