IPS-English CHILE: Indigenous Leader Fights Hurdles to Become Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 14:45:09 -0700 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 X-Spam-filter-host: newton.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com ROMAIPS LA IP HD IN PR=20 CHILE: Indigenous Leader Fights Hurdles to Become Candidate By Gustavo Gonz=E1lez SANTIAGO, Sep 23 (IPS) - A Mapuche indigenous leader, Auc=E1n Huilcam=E1n= , whose bid to run in Chile's Dec. 11 presidential elections has been blocked by legal formalisms, could overcome the hurdles and thus help democratise an electoral system that discriminates against indigenous people. Michelle Bachelet, the ruling centre-left coalition's presidential candid= ate and the front-runner in the polls, met this week with Huilcam=E1n and tol= d him she supported a legal reform that would make it possible for him to stand= in the elections. The government of President Ricardo Lagos also expressed its willingness = to seek a legislative solution to the problem. The indigenous leader had already obtained the support of the other three presidential candidates - Sebasti=E1n Pi=F1era and Joaqu=EDn Lav=EDn of t= he right-wing opposition parties, and Tom=E1s Hirsch of the leftist Juntos Podemos M=E1s alliance, made up of the small Communist and Humanist Parti= es. Huilcam=E1n, who is =94werk=E9n=94 (spokesman) for the All Lands Council,= one of the leading Mapuche organisations in Chile, presented his candidacy to the electoral authorities on Sep. 12, representing the =94Popular Indigenous Network=94, a movement that is not a legal political party. Under Chilean law, a presidential candidate must have the support of two legal parties, or register as an independent with the backing of 35,171 signatures. Huilcam=E1n, who visited the Electoral Service in Santiago on Sep. 12 wea= ring typical Mapuche dress and riding a white horse at the head of a line of 1= 0 other indigenous riders, presented 39,100 signatures. But on Sep. 15 he announced that his application had been rejected. The reason, he was told by the director of the Electoral Service, Ignacio Garc=EDa, was that only 1,399 of the signatures had been authenticated by= a notary public, which is a legal requisite. The indigenous leader, who collected the signatures on a horseback tour t= hat started out from Temuco, the capital of the southern region of Araucan=ED= a, said the requirement that the signatures be notarised discriminates again= st candidates without financial resources since notary publics charge betwee= n two and four dollars for each authenticated signature. =94What happened in the case of Auc=E1n's candidacy represents an injusti= ce, and also shows that the Chilean democratic system is elitist, with huge difficulties in opening itself up to different approaches to politics,=94= said Francisco Est=E9vez, president of the non-governmental organisation Funda= ci=F3n Ideas, which is dedicated to studies on political and social exclusion. =94The requisites are practically impossible for an independent candidate= like Huilcam=E1n to meet,=94 he told IPS. =94I believe it is absolutely superf= luous to require that the signatures be notarised.=94 He argued that the signatures should be authenticated free of charge by t= he electoral authorities. Parliamentary Deputy Antonio Leal of the co-governing Party for Democracy (PPD) concurred. =94All independent candidates should be able to present = the signatures they collect without being required to have them previously notarised, because the Electoral Service can check the signatures,=94 he commented to IPS. =94I support the PPD's commitment to push for the modification of the law= , in order to give independent candidates a greater chance of running in elections, not only at the presidential level, but at the legislative lev= el as well,=94 the lawmaker added. The PPD is one of the four parties comprising the governing Coalition for Democracy, along with the Christian Democracy Party, the Socialist Party = and the Radical Social Democrat Party, which has governed Chile since the restoration of democracy after the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinoch= et (1973-1990) came to an end. =94The legislation should at some point tend towards greater ease in registering candidates to Congress and the presidency,=94 said Cristi=E1n Monckeberg of the right-wing National Renovation Party (PRN). But, he cautioned, the legislation must also guarantee that presidential candidates are serious. =94We're not talking about registering candidates= for the presidency of a trade union or for class president, but for the presidency of the republic, someone who will guide the country's destiny,= =94 he told IPS. The PRN has its own presidential candidate, Pi=F1era, even though it is jointly fielding parliamentary lists with the Independent Democratic Unio= n (UDI), the other large right-wing party, whose presidential candidate is Lav=EDn. Both Pi=F1era and Lav=EDn have poll ratings between 18 and 20 percent, co= mpared to 45 to 47 percent for Bachelet - just a few points shy of the absolute majority she needs to avoid a runoff election. Right-wing media outlets suggested that Bachelet would benefit the most f= rom the disqualification of Huilcam=E1n's candidacy, because like Hirsch - wh= o has two to three percent support in the polls - the indigenous leader could d= raw votes from the most progressive sectors, which the ruling coalition candidate will need in order to secure a first-round victory. Nevertheless, Bachelet not only expressed her determined support for Huilcam=E1n's candidacy, but also called on the right-wing alliance - mad= e up of UDI and the PRN - to be coherent when calling for the democratisation = of the electoral system, and to also agree to reforms of the =94binomial sys= tem=94. Under that system, put in place by the Pinochet regime, two deputies and = two senators are elected for each electoral district and constituency. The system basically promotes the existence of two large coalitions, while marginalising smaller forces like the Communist and Humanist Parties, as well as independents. Although these parties take a significant number of votes, they are exclu= ded =66rom parliament since they are unable to win the first or second larges= t majority in any particular district. Twenty of the 38 seats in the Senate will be up for grabs on Dec. 11, alo= ng with all 120 seats in the lower house. A total of 64 candidates are runni= ng for the Senate and 400 for the Chamber of Deputies. Most of the candidates belong to the governing coalition, the rightist alliance, and Juntos Podemos M=E1s. Less than three percent are independe= nt. There are few indigenous people on the parliamentary slates, despite the fact that indigenous people make up nearly seven percent of Chile's population of 15.2 million, according to the 2002 census, or as much as 1= 0 percent by other estimates. Guillermo Trapailaf Manquelafquen of the Communist Party - who is running for the southern region of Los Lagos - is the only Mapuche candidate for = the Senate. But he stands no chance of winning. Similarly slim odds are faced by six indigenous candidates competing for seats in the lower house, of whom four belong to the Juntos Podemos M=E1s electoral alliance and one to the Coalition for Democracy, while one is independent. There are currently no indigenous lawmakers, and the only descendant of Mapuche Indians - Chile's main minority ethnic group - who has served as = a member of Congress is Christian Democrat Francisco Huenchumilla, now mayo= r of Temuco. In the December 2002 municipal elections, 17 indigenous mayors were elect= ed, out of a nationwide total of 345. The disqualification of Huilcam=E1n as a candidate even had international repercussions, prompting the Greens in the European Parliament to send a letter to the Lagos administration and Congress, insisting that he be allowed to run. (END/IPS/LA/IP HD IN PR/TRASP-SW/GGR/DCL/05) =20 =3D 09231618 ORP006 NNNN