Mayor opposes holding municipal elections in Chaitén this year

SANTIAGO.- Following the Electoral Service’s decision to go ahead with municipal elections in Chaitén this October, despite the devastation caused by the volcanic eruption in the town, the current mayor of the municipality, José Miguel Fritis, has said that he is opposed to holding elections under the current circumstances, arguing that voters´ independence would be compromised.

The mayor (independent pro-DC party) has instead proposed that voting be postponed for a year and then held alongside the presidential elections.  “We need to clear the air so that things can be done correctly, I think that if we want a democratic election we can’t hold it under these circumstances”, Fritis told El Mercurio. 

In the mayor’s opinion, the fact that the evacuees are receiving a bonus of 500 thousand pesos as well as other forms of aid from the State “implies that a large portion of Chaitén´s residents are dependent upon one party, which is the party of the current Government administration”. 

“I think that people would have very little voting independence”, he maintains.