Next November Presidential Elections in Chile

Primaries in Chile: Gabriel Boric won on the left and Sebastián Sichel on the right, by Argentinian journalist Juan Carlos Ramírez Figueroa for Página 12 outlet. 19.07.2021.

The favorites lost, the communist Jadue and the Pinochetist Lavín.

Presidential candidatures were defined for November 21. ” If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave, " said Boric, one of the masterminds of the constituent agreement and one of the surprises of the day.

From Santiago: Surprising were the results of the primaries in Chile, which officially open the way to the presidential elections on November 21. Gabriel Boric (Social Convergence-Broad Front) beat Daniel Jadue (Communist Party) by 60.24% against 39.76% with 94.5% of the polling stations. Despite the fact that the latter, for two years he led all the polls, the last being the Criteria of June where he came to score 18% over the right-wing Joaquín Lavín with 13%. For the right grouped in “Chile Vamos” the same thing happened: Lavín was defeated by the former minister of Social Development, Sebastián Sichel with 48.96% against 31.49%.

Although it cannot be assured in this new scenario that the new president of Chile will come from here, since the center-left that ruled the country during much of the return to Democracy —DC, PPD and PS— still does not officially define a single candidate, the name of current president of the senate Yasna Provoste (DC) sounds strong. And there are also cards with relative drag in more radical right-wing nuclei such as José Antonio Kast (Republican Party) that could unbalance the balance.

The constituent process

Main thing is that the new president of Chile will be the one that will seal the Constituent process, all in the midst of a massive lockdown ending on Monday, Santiago and most of the country will go through “phase 3” that will allow the free movement and the opening of commercial premises weekend— a long weekend that began on Friday and a Constitutional Convention that drafted the new constitution that will replace the 1980s already installed.

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Chile experiences a generational change after primary elections

Chile closed a historic presidential primary, with important signs of generational and political renewal, such as the result obtained by congressman Gabriel Boric, elected standard-bearer of the Leftist pact Apruebo Dignidad.

In this regard," we are at the beginning of a great change, " he said.

In this sense, "the period of democratic transition that began in the nineties with the end of the military government, in which elements of the old regime coexisted with elements of the new, is now closing," he said.

For his part, "we are witnessing a diffusion of political representations, given that the left has several components, not only in political and programmatic terms, but also in age, " he said. In this sense, "the group that Gabriel Boric represents is a new, post-Cold War left," he said. Likewise," it incorporates elements of the XXI Century, such as the priority to ecological issues, which leads to new political, economic and cultural practices", Gaspar concluded.

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Chilean presidential candidate Boric was attacked in an activity in favor of the imprisoned demonstrators, 30.7.2021.

SANTIAGO (Sputnik) - Chilean congressman and presidential candidate Gabriel Boric (left) was insulted and assaulted inside Santiago 1 prison when he tried to participate in an activity on behalf of protesters detained during the protests of the social explosion.

"The candidate was in module 12 of the prison where the prisoners of the social revolt are, who rebuked him and even one person assaulted him with fist blows in the face," the president of the National Association of Prison Officials, Patricio Baquedano, told radio Biobío.

The candidate had to leave the place and abroad was insulted by the relatives of the detainees, who accused him of passing laws in Congress that tightened the measures of repression against the demonstrators during the social explosion.

For his part, Boric asked that the people who assaulted him not be punished.

"In the face of the aggressions we receive, we have asked the authorities not to institute any type of sanction, because what is being experienced today in the Santiago 1 prison as in other prisons in the country is already serious and unfair enough," the candidate said through a video uploaded to his social networks.

The deputy detailed that the attack occurred when he went to prison with other parliamentarians to an activity in favor of the demonstrators arrested during the protests of the social explosion, when a group of them confronted him and assaulted him.

Boric explained that the aggression was not serious and assured that he will continue " to work with his head held high for truth, justice, reparation, pardon of political prisoners and for dignified and humane conditions in all prisons in Chile."

The prisoners of the revolt, called "political prisoners" by those who are in favor of anti-government demonstrations, are a group of people accused of crimes committed in the framework of the citizen demonstrations of social explosion (October 2019-March 2020), and whose exact number is not yet clear.

Boric is a militant of the leftist party Social Convergence, which belongs to the Broad Front coalition, and after winning the primary election of July 18 is the presidential candidate of the pact Aprobo Dignidad, which brings together the Broad Front, the Communist Party, the Equality Party and the Social Green Regionalist Front.

Presidential elections will be held on November 21, with the possibility of a second round on December 19.

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Dispersion, alliances and ruptures: the 'fight' for the presidency of Chile starts with nine registered candidates, 24/08/2021.

Leftist Gabriel Boric and the conservative Sebastián Sichel lead the polls for elections in which the successor of Sebastián Piñera will be decided.

The Electoral Service of Chile (Servel) confirmed that nine candidates will participate in the presidential elections to be held on November 21 to define the successor of Sebastián Piñera and in which 27 senators, 155 deputies and 302 regional councilors will also be elected.

At midnight on Monday, when the deadline for registration expired, the unknowns that still existed about some candidatures were finished, in particular those of the independent candidates, who had to gather until the last moment the 33,000 sponsorships (signatures) they needed to be able to formalize their registration.

In the balance of the officialization of the presidential candidates, it stands out that there is only one woman; that for the first time an indigenous Mapuche is running for president and that the left or progressivism is divided into four candidacies.

Until yesterday, the only candidates registered were Gabriel Boric, of the leftist pact Apruebo Dignidad; and Sebastián Sichel, of the rightist Chile Podemos Más, since both were the winners of the primary elections that their respective alliances held on July 18.

Throughout the day they were joined by the rest of the candidacies that were registered before Servel, either through coalitions, with the seal of parties or independently.

The busy day ended months of negotiations, agreements and breaches that have faced every political force in the middle of the historical process that detonated in Chile from the massive protests of the end of 2019 and already included a plebiscite in October of last year, and the choice of 155 conventional in may, who are now drafting a new Constitution.

This process demonstrated the exhaustion of traditional parties and opened the door to new leaderships and representations of traditionally marginalized groups, such as indigenous peoples.
The next step is the presidential elections that will put an end to the weakened Piñera government, but the dispersion of candidacies is such that, beyond the scenarios anticipated by the polls, a clear favorite cannot yet be outlined.

If on November 21 none of the candidates gets 50 % plus one of the votes, on December 19 there will be a second round between the two most voted.

Surprises

The panorama of the presidential elections in Chile is uncertain because it is preceded by the surprising results that there has been in all elections held in the country since the end of 2019, including internal candidates.

For example, in the primaras of last July 18, the favorites were Daniel Jadue (Aprobo Dignidad) and Joaquín Lavín (Vamos Chile), who ended up losing to Boric and Sichel, respectively.

Both advance as the candidates with the highest voting intention in all polls, but the scenario will change now that the other candidates are already confirmed.

Boric, barely 34, is a leftist congressman with law studies who began his political career as a student leader until in 2011 he became president of the Student Federation of the University of Chile, replacing communist congresswoman Camila Vallejo.

In 2014 he ran for the first time as a deputy and four years later renewed a bench from which he began to acquire national projection. In addition, he actively participated in the protests of 2019 and from there began to germinate his presidential candidacy.

Sichel, for his part, is a 44-year-old lawyer who has managed to position himself as one of the faces of "renewal" of the right despite the fact that he was minister of Social Development in the discredited Piñera Government, a position he left in June last year to head the Banco del Estado for a semester.

His public career dates back to 2009, when the Christian Democratic Party ran him as a candidate for congressman and lost the election. The same thing happened in 2014, but little by little he moved away from his political origins to get closer to Piñera, who first appointed him as vice president of the Corporation for the Promotion of Production and then as minister. Today, he's his candidate.

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Today, September 11th, marks the 48th anniversary of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte's murderous military coup in Chile, whereby the legitimate, democratically elected President Salvador Allende Gossens was point-blank assassinated, later on claimed as 'suicide' by the putschists. This tragedy was years later white-washed by the US and the twin towers incident.

Chile: Piñera may be first president ousted by Pandora Papers, says Sputnik, by Francisco Bravo Atias for Sputnik. 07/10/2021.

Although many believed it was possible for Chilean opposition parties to initiate constitutional impeachment proceedings against President Sebastián Piñera after being mentioned in the investigation known as the" Pandora Papers " on tax havens, no one expected it to happen so quickly.

On Sunday, October 3, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published the report, taking Chileans by surprise who did not know that their president would be one of the 35 world leaders cited in it.

On October 4, opposition parliamentarians were talking in the halls about the possibility of an" impeachment " and some dared to reveal the idea to the media, but the idea still seemed very premature.

However, on Tuesday, 5, a group of deputies formed by representatives of all opposition groups met for hours in a congress hall and together they decided to submit a request for the removal of Piñera. From the traditional left of the Communist Party to the conservative center-left of the Christian Democrats, they shook hands and took the step.

The coordination of the opposition and the fact that the legislative and presidential elections are less than two months away are two factors that generate uncertainty on the political scene and that worry the government, whose lawyers have already begun to organize the defense before Congress to prevent Piñera from becoming the first president in the world to be ousted by the Pandora Papers scandal.

Complex scenario

In November 2019, a month after the social crisis of massive protests that put the Piñera government in check, the opposition filed a historic constitutional charge seeking to oust the president, which only happened in 1956, when the Chamber of deputies refused to oust then-President Carlos Ibañez (1952-1958).

Piñera was accused of having political responsibility for the human rights violations committed by the Armed Forces in suppressing the demonstrations, but the initiative did not prosper because it did not find full support in the Christian Democratic Party (center-left).

Now the Catholic party has aligned itself with the opposition, and if the entire sector voted in favor, it would add 83 votes in the Chamber of Deputies, more than the necessary 78. The worst thing for the president is that some deputies of his own coalition were not categorical in his defense, and some even criticized him.

"It is difficult to believe that the president did not know about this business, in which all his direct relatives are involved," Camila Flores, a deputy of the National Renewal Party, in government, told local media Chilevisión. 

"Enough of being a passive accomplice to your business," Deputy Cristián Labbé, of the also ruling Independent Democratic Union, told CNN Chile.

Piñera's hopes are concentrated in the Senate, the body charged with ratifying or rejecting the House's decision. The initiative needs 29 votes out of 43 to pass, and the opposition has only 24 seats. But some pro-government senators also lagged behind their leader. Manuel Ossandón, senator for the Renovación Nacional, said at a press conference:"I vote in conscience, and if I have to vote in favor because my conscience says that sin was committed there, I will do it and my hand will not tremble".

Claudia Mix is one of the promoters of both this complaint and that of 2019. In conversation with the Sputnik agency, she explained that the reason for filing the impeachment is that “Chile does not have a repeal referendum or any instrument of direct democracy for citizens to supervise the president of the Republic, turning the constitutional accusation into the main formula of control”.

"There are those who say not to make these denunciations because if they are rejected, the figure of the president can come out even more strengthened. I think that's a myth. In addition, we have the obligation and duty in the face of such serious facts, as the courts and the prosecutor's Office follow the criminal side,” she said.

The legislator stressed that the president's version that he did not know about his business in tax havens is implausible. "No one can believe that Piñera did not talk about it with his children or with his best friend for five years. Neither parliamentarians nor citizens are dumb, the head of government is lying to us, becoming perhaps the worst president Chile has ever had," she said.

The Pandora Papers showed that in 2010, during the exercise of his first term (2010-2014), Piñera companies sold the property of one of the most important and ambitious mining projects of recent times in the country, Minera Dominga, in a transaction carried out in the territory of the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven.

The President's companies, run by his sons, sold their share of the project to Carlos Délano, one of the country's most important entrepreneurs and the president's best friend in a 152 million deal. The investigation revealed that one of the conditions for the realization of the operation was that the land where the enterprise is not to be declared a natural reserve, a decision that depends on the President of the Republic himself and has not happened to date.

In defense, Piñera says he never knew about the deals his companies were doing because when he took his first term (2010-2014) he handed them over to a "blind trust", that is, in which the beneficiaries are unaware of their investments.

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Political crisis in Chile: Commission of Deputies rejects dismissal of Piñera but plenary will debate on Monday in a climate of uncertainty, 05/11/2021.

The parliamentary process is being carried out in the final stretch of the campaigns leading to the presidential elections on November 21.

The legislative commission reviewing the Constitutional Accusation against Sebastián Piñera rejected on Friday with two votes in favor, two against and one abstention the dismissal of President Sebastián Piñera, a process that began as a result of the investigation of Pandora's Papers that linked him to the millionaire sale of the Dominga Mining company through operations in fiscal lairs.

The parliamentary procedure will continue next Monday with a plenary session in the Chamber of Deputies in which the opposition already had the 78 votes necessary to recommend the dismissal to the Senate, body that has the last word.

However, the debate in Deputies is now shrouded in uncertainty because at least three legislators will not be able to attend because they are being quarantined for having had close contact with coronavirus patients.

Among them is Gabriel Boric, the congressman and candidate of the leftist alliance Aprobo Dignidad who heads the polls for the presidential elections on November 21 and has already anticipated his vote in favor of impeachment against the president.

The shadow of a possible impeachment of Piñera keeps the country in a political crisis, as the parliamentary debate takes place in the final stretch of the presidential campaigns and only four months before the president ends his government.

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George1 wrote:José Antonio Kast of far right Republican Party along leftist Gabriel Boric lead the polls.

Kast is an extreme Nazi of the same school of thought of Brazil's Bolsonaro. Not sure if Boric is really up to the task of facing up and defeating Chilean remaining Fascism from the Pinochet dictatorship era.

New proof of political decline or an institutional facelift? What could hide the impeachment of Piñera in Chile, 10/11/2021.

Although the final decision depends on the Senate –with great possibilities that it will not prosper– it could be the way for the existing institutionality to be purged, or at least to try to re-oxygenate, from the political parties and Congress.

Like any event, the decision of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies to open a impeachment trial of President Sebastián Piñera, prohibiting him from leaving the country, may have several interpretations.

Although it is still too early to assess the scope of this measure, it must be borne in mind that the presidential elections will be held on 21 November; that is, a macro-event is expected to close a societal cycle and produce a new political map in a few days.

One interpretation, which is obvious and seems incontestable, is that the impeachment is nothing more than the logical result produced by a political system born of a military dictatorship and with a level of corruption that has caused the stability of the institutionality to succumb. In addition, it comes after the outbreak of 2019 that ended the myth of the Chilean model, plunging the country into total chaos for several months and from where the impulse for a constitutional change was born in which there were, and there are, great expectations.

From this approach it is a rotten system, which has its final decline sung and which is very well represented in the current president and his high degree of popular repudiation. But there are also other readings.

Return to institutional normality?

Although the final decision depends on the Senate –with great possibilities that it will not prosper– the opening of this impeachment, after the street conflict, could be the way for the existing institutionality to be purged, or at least try to reoxigenarse, from the political parties and Congress.

It is a good opportunity for the political powers of the traditional center-left and the center to wash their faces, distancing themselves from the 'Piñera disaster' and the open corruption of the current government.

Let us not forget that the current Constitutional Convention requires the proposal of the new magna carta to have a broad consensus of 2/3 of the plenary, which indicates that very profound changes in the wording of the text are difficult and makes it easier for the status quo to have many ways to survive the crisis.

In addition, the establishment has played to rapidly erode the leaderships that emerged during the constituent process and the popular revolts, which repositions, in a natural way, the existing parties. Street protests no longer have the same capacity for mobilization.

Therefore, it is a good opportunity for the political powers of the traditional center-left and the center to wash their faces, distancing themselves from the 'Piñera disaster' and the open corruption of the current government, evidenced in the Pandora Papers scandal.

With this, the lower house pushes the Chilean political sphere towards a return to its traditional contradiction between left and right, like the one that occurred in the closed vote in the lower house to approve 'the impeachment'. Thus, it again establishes a more even correlation and ends up preventing the development of new imposing majorities such as those seen in the referendum and elections of the constituent conventions, where traditional politicians were defeated overwhelmingly.

Piñera's decline is demonstrated not only in the deep social crisis that has been generated in his second term, but also in the upswing of a radical right, represented in José Antonio Kast, who criticized the weakness with which the president faced the explosive situation, although he rejected the prosecution.

From the institutional left to the radical right, however, they reach consensus in viewing Piñera as a rotten apple that needs to be extracted.

Gone is the image of a Piñera as a bulwark in the middle of a quasi-war action on the Venezuelan border of Colombia trying to overthrow the Maduro government and impose Juan Guaidó at the beginning of 2019, when his mandate was just beginning and he did not know what would come over him.

Presidential election within two weeks

The first round of elections, which will take place on November 21, will give a map not only of the likely winner, but also of the room for manoeuvre that the new president will have to adapt to a new Constitution. Congress deputies and senators are also elected on that day. The second round would be held on 19 December if necessary.

The decision to prosecute Piñera is a way to wash the face of the traditional parties and Congress and make the elections a turning point in which many who were overwhelmed by the maremágnum of 2019 could survive.

It should also be noted that the degree of conflict, as well as the opposition's capacity to mobilize, has been diminishing and that the status quo that felt an earthquake under its feet during the outbreak believes that it is time to reposition itself.
In this way, politicians try to return the waters to their institutional channel. The decision of the Chamber of Deputies to prosecute Piñera is a way of washing the face of the traditional parties and Congress and making the elections a turning point in which many who were overwhelmed by the maremágnum of 2019 could survive.

The candidate of the moderate left, Gabriel Boric, is perhaps the one who can best represent a change, timid, but at least with a minimum processing of the most felt demands in the burning Chilean streets of 2019 and 2020.

However, nobody rules out that José Antonio Kast goes to the second round and there tries to give the surprise in the middle of an upswing in public opinion of conservatism, a kind of counter-reform that in the elections will show if it is real or only media.

For now, Piñera will not be able to leave the country while the Senate makes a final decision on his fate.
To make matters worse, the provinces of the Mapuche area are militarized and the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights has expressed concern about the government's repressive action.

It is also worth recognizing that some changes have already been carried out, such as the possibility to choose by popular vote, the regional governors, a fact that was completed in may 2021 for the first time in chilean history, a situation that showed the backwardness of the country with respect to the region in the field of democracy, which has been protected militarily since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship.

In a few weeks we will know how all these edges contribute to the production of an event like the first presidential ones after the outbreak and the constituent convention it produced.
There we will know how much Chilean society has changed and if we can talk about a new political cycle.

By Ociel Ali Lopez, a sociologist, political analyst and professor at the Central University of Venezuela. He has won the municipal Literature prize 2015 with his book Dale más petrolera and the Clacso / Asdi prize for young researchers in 2004. Collaborator in various media in Europe, the United States and Latin America.

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What is an extreme Nazi as opposed to a regular nazi?

As a young Econometrics and Analytical Statistics professor at the Political Economics Faculty of the University of Chile, I went through its military takeover by assault with tanks and shootings, whereby colleagues of mine were shot point blank dead by general’s Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda regiment in September 11, 1973, in Santiago. This general was a Himmler admirer and had a poster of him in his office.
So, I think I have knowledge and experience when I sniff in an extreme Nazi in the surrounding area.

I love that Franco likes your post Kiko....

A fascist is an extreme rightist outrightly against everything that is progressive or leftist stigmatising it as "communist", while a national-socialist, or Nazi, has all that plus racism. World examples of fascists were Italy's Benito Mussolini, Spain's Francisco Franco, Portugal's Antônio de Oliveira Salazar. Examples of Nazis were Germany's Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, Chile's Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, paradoxically Israeli Ariel Sharon and present day President Sebastián Piñera Echeñique, who has thought well fighting and assassinating Mapuches (Chilean indigenous inhabitants).

The historic session of the Senate that will decide on the impeachment of Piñera begins in Chile five days before the elections, 16/11/2021.

A marathon debate is foreseen in which the 43 legislators will argue their vote for or against the indictment.

The Chilean Senate on Tuesday began a crucial session in which it will vote whether or not to remove President Sebastián Piñera just five days before the presidential election, four months before the end of his term in office, and after the international investigation known as the Pandora Papers linked him to the millionaire sale of a mining company through operations in tax havens.

This will be the final debate that will seal the fate of the president after last week the Chamber of Deputies approved the accusation against him in a long and controversial session and just with the 78 votes needed for the process to advance and reach the Senate, body that will have the last word.

The Government is confident that the final vote will be favorable for Piñera, since at least 29 votes are required to remove him and the opposition only total 24 seats in the Senate.

Beyond the outcome, it will be a historic session because it is the first time, since Chile regained democracy in 1990, that a president has been subjected to a constitutional accusation.

The day began at 09: 30 (local time) with the reading of the fundamentals of the prosecution and defense.

Then Gael Yeomans, Leonardo Soto and Gabriel Silber, the three members of the prosecution who spared no criticism against the president and who called on senators to analyze the evidence before casting their vote, presented.

The charges

"This parliament is capable of putting an end to the abuses and impunity with which Sebastián Piñera has acted. It demonstrates a network of societies, utilities and personal friendships. The conflict of interests and whether to act unethically has not only affected the image of the country, but also democracy. It has caused immeasurable damage, " Yeomans said.

The president's actions, he added, "have been immoral, unpatriotic and unconstitutional" because it makes it seem that his economic interests can run over the entire country. "The point is to raise the standard and the bar of how we measure our rulers (...) we are talking about corruption, " he said.

Soto regretted that Piñera was not present at the debate. "This is a special day for our democracy, it would have been very helpful if he were here and if his family had collaborated with the investigation," he reproached.

He explained that truths will be heard on the premises that may seem uncomfortable because they address problems that have never been addressed in depth. "We will talk all day about public corruption, conflicts of interest from the presidency of the Republic and impunity. It cannot be minimized because there is nothing that has more damaged our democracy and our coexistence than impunity," he said.

Finally, Silber said that Piñera has not acted with the probity that all public servants must comply with.

"The break between those who exercise our responsibilities and the citizens explains in large part the social explosion (of 2019). It is based on the loss of credibility, on the honesty of the exercise of the public function," he said.

The Pandora's papers, he added, marked a before and after because they revealed" the dishonest act " of a president who, in addition to facing this constitutional accusation, is now accused by the Public Ministry for alleged acts of corruption, as well as his family and his close environment.

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Chile will define between Boric and Kast the next president of the country, 22/11/2021.

The South American country will have a second presidential round on December 19 between the candidate of the 'Frente Amplo' (Broad Front) Gabriel Boric (25%), and the ultraconservative candidate, José Antonio Kast (28%), in a polarizing result, after a day of voting in which the queues remained after the closing of the polls at 18 hours.

https://mundo.sputniknews.com/20211122/chile-definira-entre-boric-y-kast-al-proximo-mandatario-del-pais-1118485670.html

Gabriel Boric defeats José Antonio Kast and wins presidential elections in Chile with more than 55% of the vote

The Electoral Service is close to 100% of the polling stations counted.

The candidate of Apruebo Dignidad, Gabriel Boric, is prevailing in the second round of the presidential elections in Chile with almost 56% of the votes, having registered 99.47% of tables counted at the national level, according to provisional data published by the Electoral Service (Servel) after 20: 00 (local time).

In this way, the leftist politician is gaining more than ten points of advantage over the far-right postulant, José Antonio Kast, who accumulates more than 44% partially. 
In the Metropolitan Region, the main scene of the last social explosion that motivated the creation of a constituent assembly, the leftist is exceeding 60 %. On the other hand, in the Araucanía Region, characterized by tension between Mapuche groups and the security forces, Kast is imposed with 60 %.

So far, the valid votes of 8.2 million people across the country have been counted, while counting tasks are progressing at a good pace. Of that total, 4.5 million voted for Boric and 3.6 million for his rival.

Kast congratulates Boric for "his great triumph"

With half of the votes registered, Kast published on social networks a congratulation for Boric, recognizing " his great triumph "in the vote:" From today he is the president-elect of Chile and deserves all our respect and constructive collaboration, " he said. 

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