Communist elected as president of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies in historic first

Karol Cariola - image from the Library of the National Congress of Chile/CC via Morning Star

As the Communist Party of Chile (CCP) relates, for the first time in history, the CCP will lead the Chilean Chamber of Deputies following the election of Karol Cariola as president of the legislative body.

Cariola is a 37-year-old midwife and former president of the Federation of Students at the University of Concepcion. She triumphed with a razor-thin vote of 76 to 75. This momentous win for the Communist Party marks a significant defeat for the right-wing. She won over the Christian Democrat Joanna Perez.

According to the CPP, since 2022, it had been the turn of the CCP to head the lower house, but the opposition reneged on the agreement reached by the political parties.

As reported by El Siglo (the Century), newspaper of the CCP: “Today we have shown the willingness to build, despite our diversity and differences, a common position in the leadership of the chamber of deputies,” the jubilant Cariola said after the win.

“I call on the opposition to collaborate with the development of the country,” Cariola emphasised, “to abandon the calls to weaken the [Boric] government, to abandon the calls to bog down the debates about public policies that Chileans urgently require.

“We will represent the diversity of this parliament, and we’ll be open to listen, dialogue and work with all forces, and collaborate with the government of President Gabriel Boric.

“We are also willing to listen to and incorporate all ideas and proposals that contribute to the advancement of the country as a whole, the welfare of our homeland the welfare of its people from Arica to Punta Arenas and from the sea to the mountains.”

Cariola observed that: “Chile does not stand still and neither do we, we are moving forward and this office will be supportive of all the advances that are so necessary at this very moment in time.”