The deadline to register candidates for the 155 seats in Chile’s lower house of Congress and 23 Senate seats was earlier this week. On November 16, voters will elect the president and renew the entire lower house and half of the Senate, barring a presidential runoff.

After eight years, it’s time for a complete overhaul in Aysén.

 

At the time of writing, it was unclear who would make it onto the ballot in the region. The only thing that was clear was that current Congressman Miguel Ángel Calisto would run as an independent for the Senate after failed negotiations with the pact supporting Evelyn Matthei.

 

On the right, the union between the Republican, Social Christian, and National Libertarian parties is called “Cambio por Chile” (Change for Chile), and the alliance of the Independent Democratic Union, National Renewal, Evópoli, and Democrats is called “Chile Grande y Unido” (Great and United Chile).

 

The center-left pact is called "Unidad por Chile" and includes the Party for Democracy, the Broad Front, the Radical Party, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Christian Democratic Party, and the Liberal Party of Chile. The "Verdes Regionalistas y Humanistas" (Regionalist and Humanist Greens) includes the Humanist Action Party and the Regionalist Green Federation.

 

Finally, the "Popular Ecologist, Animalist, and Humanist Left" includes the Equality and Humanist parties.

 

Under these umbrellas, lists for Congress were formed with both party members and independents registering. Those who did not want to (or could not) join these party lists—as was the case with Calisto—will compete individually after gathering the necessary signatures. In Aysén, it was not difficult because only 203 valid sponsorships are required, which can currently be obtained with a unique password.

 

The truth is that, despite the presence of the concepts of green and environmentalism in two of the pacts, the national and global political scenario is not the best for nature protection. Environmental regression is being felt across the planet alongside calls to ignore climate change, environmental deregulation, and the advancement of an almost absolute pro-growth vision.

 

Perhaps the pandemic and the resulting economic slowdown played a role, given that the discourse emerging from the global Covid-19 crisis was to return to the growth of previous years. Yesterday, the United States, Russia, and the Persian Gulf states blocked a global agreement to reduce plastic production, a petroleum derivative. They opposed negotiations that would have resulted in legally binding responsibilities for countries.

 

In Chile, the 2019 uprising had a similar outcome. The reaction was an increase in critical tendencies among environmental, feminist, indigenous, and diversity movements, among others. This is the same pendulum that swung from one extreme to the other between the election of the first convention in May 2021 and the rejection of the first constitutional proposal in September 2022.

 

The scenario we will face in November is a continuation of what we experienced during those years. It demonstrates that, for most presidential proposals to date, the relationship with nature will be more akin to considering it a resource. Everyone agrees to talk about "sustainable" development, but currently, none are known to address structural issues in depth.

 

The debate at the 2025 Salmón Summit was decisive in this regard, at least among the main candidates. Deregulation, lower taxes, and a lack of measures against the sector's environmental impact were the main themes of the debate. The cases of environmental damage caused by the industry received little or no mention, despite being relevant issues on the agenda of the sector that has taken over the south of the country. Recently, Sernapesca filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the death of a sei whale at the entrance to the Cupquelán estuary in Laguna San Rafael National Park. Cooke Aquaculture, a Canadian company that has been mentioned in previous years for the same reason, operates in this area amid multiple questions and sanctioning proceedings.

 

However, there are still three months until the elections.

 

Some citizens—though clearly not all—are waiting to hear structural proposals on environmental issues and the mechanisms for implementing them. Structural issues that have not been widely discussed include climate change, the water crisis, energy needs, the rapid extinction of species, disasters associated with ecosystem interventions, food sovereignty, and the implementation of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service. What can be said about how environmental degradation increasingly affects the most vulnerable sectors?

 

This is the fate of these elections. There is constant doubt about whether the country will be compromised by those who hope to lead two of the main branches of government. The business sector, which has stated that one of its objectives is to dismantle environmental institutions, already has clarity on this issue.