The collection, however, was voluminous and as a high level of support for calling for the initiative was seen, warnings arose from the business world, first, and from the technical sectors that promoted the social security reform voted by the Parliament last year, after.
“Politicians have to speak out, they have to take sides in this and warn how dangerous it is,” a leading construction businessman told this reporter in December. The process was slow and, given the imminent presentation of the necessary signatures to the Electoral Courtheld at the end of April, politics finally reacted.
The chicanery between the coalition parties and the Broad Front (FA) by the opposition leaders’ position in the plebiscite of a historical partner of that force, the PIT-CNT. The long and even tedious back and forth was settled last week when Carolina Cosse He publicly said that he would not vote for the proposed constitutional reform “as is.”
But politics, in election time, was caught up in the unconstructive settling of scores. On the business side and in academia, studies, forums and meetings were accelerated, where the effects on economic and financial stability of the Uruguay In case of a “Yes” vote: loss of investment grade, increase in VATdestruction of the financial sustainability of the pension system, increase of at least 5% of the public spending.
The outlook for anyone who looks at economic and financial indicators is alarming. However, the daily life of the average citizen takes place in other latitudes.
Citizen apathy towards the election campaign – the internal elections registered the lowest participation in their history with 36% – and the distance of business debates from the average Uruguayan have favored a scenario in which a reform that seemed distant now feels imminent.
This feeling of a catastrophe about to unfold led the coalition parties to form, yesterday, a coordination table of actions against the PIT-CNT plebiscite. Also to use bombastic expressions to see if the concern is transferred by osmosis from the political leadership to the voters. “We are on the way to the Kirchnerism“, warned the former Minister of Labor and Social Security and presidential candidate for the Independent Party, Pablo Mieres.
The thermometer regarding the social security plebiscite, meanwhile, has not moved. Uruguayans almost equally support, reject and disavow the initiative.
Consulting Teams On Monday night, the party released a survey that showed that 36% would vote in favor of lowering the retirement age and ending the mixed system, among other changes; 33% would not vote and 31% were undecided. Regarding knowledge of the initiative, 28% have no idea what is being put to a vote and 33% are unclear.
A window of opportunity has thus opened. The challenge for politicians and businessmen is not to change the opinion of the third in favour of another retirement system – a debate that the country will have to hold at some point, but under other parameters – nor is it to win the loyalty of the third that is already opposed. The key to leaving behind the risky reform is to inform the remaining third.
Reporting is not about alarming, nor is it about the crude confrontations to which Uruguayan politics is increasingly accustoming us. It requires moderation, clarity, and consistency. The challenge has been set.
Source: Ambito
