While the negotiation for the multicolor votes escalated to the sphere of the leaders, the Cabildo Abierto will meet today to make a final decision regarding the approval of the project.
The crisis hit the center of the government coalition due to internal disputes surrounding the vote on the social security reformin Uruguay, with barely three days to go before the end of the ideal term proposed by the Executive power; and the increasingly harsh negotiation passed to the sphere of the leaders of each sector, in a last attempt to approve the project during this month.
The meeting between the government’s economic team and the Special Commission that deals with the text of the reform in the Chamber of Deputies moved quickly from the previous optimism of being able to reach an agreement, mainly, with Open Town Hall (CA)and the bucket of cold water that was the notice of the lobbying deputies Alvaro Perrone and Martin Sodano that his party will not vote on the pension reform. Not even with the modifications incorporated, as long as the calculation of the retirement salary remains unchanged —something that the Executive does not intend to modify. A true deadlock, in which, for the moment, it seems that none of the positions is going to give way.
In this context, not only was the vote on the reform hanging by a thread, but also the coalition integrity same.
Negotiations escalated to another level
With the impossibility of continuing the talks at the legislative level, the negotiation quickly turned to the leaders of the sectors, in a last attempt to reach an agreement that wins the votes. The ball went directly between Guido Manini Rios (AC), Pablo Mieres (Independent Party), Julio María Sanguinetti (Colorado Party) and the same president Luis Lacalle Pou (National Party).
However, and in the midst of the discomfort produced by the lobbyist’s refusal, the order among the whites is only one: stick to the original plan and obtain approval of the social security reform project in commission for this Friday. Hence the possibility of voting for an extension would have been ruled outdespite the fact that it would be the only thing that, for the moment, the Cabildo Abierto would be willing to vote on.
The truth is that, in addition to having passed to another sphere, at the negotiating table they are beginning to join other legislative projects of great importance for the lobbyists, with the aim of making the positive vote attractive due to the “extras” that it would include —such as house arrest for people over 65, reparation for guerrilla victims, the debt restructuring and joint ownership.
Meanwhile, the possibility of breaking the election promise and, with it, the coalition, remains in suspense until today after 10, when the Manini Ríos sector meets to make a final decision and communicates it to the Executive Power.
Source: Ambito
