Former Minister Jorge Arrate presents resignation to the PS

SANTIAGO. -  By way of a letter addressed to the President of the Socialist Party (PS), Camilo Escalona, the former minister and presidential pre-candidate Jorge Arrate has brought an end to his 46 year membership to the party, for which he served as President and Vice- president for many terms.

According to reports, Arrate arrived at the decision after his efforts to help the party reach an agreement with the extra-parliamentary left were unsuccessful. He had hoped that they would agree to present a sole candidate to compete against Eduardo Frei in the first-round of elections.

The letter was delivered this morning to the party headquarters by the Arrate´s Campaign Chief and Director of Socialist Youth, Salvador Muñoz.

The former state secretary had insisted that the alliance with the PC was an “opportunity for the PS to support a candidate from the renewed left-wing”, alluding to his own presidential aspiration.

Nevertheless, the conditions to attain a pact of reciprocal support during the second round of the elections as Salvador Allende and Radomiro Tomic did in 1970, were not reached.