|  ElCiudadano.cl |  Noticias

El Ciudadano

Original article: La derecha se cae a pedazos: fracaso de la acusación contra Grau evidencia fractura entre aliados de Kast

The Senate rejected all four sections of the constitutional accusation against former Finance Minister Nicolás Grau in a vote that exposed the profound splintering among allies of President José Antonio Kast. The lack of cohesion within the right and center-right became the decisive factor in the failure, overshadowing the legal arguments presented during the session in Valparaíso.

The outcome highlighted internal divisions among the Republican Party, the Libertarian National Party, and Chile Vamos, which failed to act as a united front in this significant institutional vote.

Broad Rejection: No Chapter Achieves Majority

The document promoted by Republican and Libertarian deputies accused Grau of violations of the principle of probity, inconsistencies in fiscal projections, underestimation of public debt, and failures in coordinating the state’s financial program. The results were conclusive and reflected a dispersion of criteria that made any majority impossible. Thus, Chapter 1 received 25 votes against, 16 in favor, and 4 abstentions.

In turn, Chapter 2 saw 32 votes against, 9 in favor, and 2 abstentions.

Chapter 3 was rejected by 26 votes against, 16 in favor, and 3 abstentions.

Meanwhile, Chapter 4 was dismissed with 33 votes against, 10 in favor, and 2 abstentions from the senators.

In this scenario, the government’s finance chief under former President Gabriel Boric avoided a five-year ineligibility sanction for holding public office.

Internal Divisions Disarmed the Accusation

The fracture that defined the outcome was not only numerical but political, concentrated in the divergent behaviors of the senators from Chile Vamos. While Republicans and Libertarians maintained a more consistent block, the situation in Renovación Nacional and the Unión Demócrata Independiente was radically different: partial supports, rejections, abstentions, and disqualifications dismantled any potential majority. Several senators from these parties questioned the legal solidity of the accusation, arguing that the alleged infractions did not meet the constitutional standard required for such a mechanism. Evópoli, meanwhile, lost a key member with the disqualification of Senator Luciano Cruz-Coke.

Absences also played a crucial role in the outcome. Senator Manuel José Ossandón (RN) did not participate in the session but wrote in advance that he would have rejected the accusation, having found no constitutional violation.

The details of the cross-votes reveal the extent of the internal rifts. Senator Carlos Kuschel (RN) supported all four chapters, believing that financial administration rules had been violated, in contrast to Senator Vanessa Kaiser (PNL), who fully upheld the validity of the document. However, Cristián Vial adopted a selective criterion: he approved Chapters 1 and 3 but rejected the others. Additionally, Rodolfo Carter, a member of the Republican bench, distanced himself from the hardline stance by rejecting two of the four chapters, indicating that disparities also exist within his own sector.

Sens. Andrés Longton (RN) and Paulina Núñez (RN) voted against the document, arguing that poor management does not necessarily equate to a constitutional infraction. Similar arguments came from Andrea Balladares (RN) and other legislators from Chile Vamos.

From the opposition, there was unanimity in rejection, with senators like Matías Walker (ind.), Alejandra Sepúlveda (ind.), Pedro Araya (PPD), Gastón Saavedra (PS), Paulina Vodanovic (PS), Beatriz Sánchez (FA), Fabiola Campillai (ind.), and Yasna Provoste (DC), among others, questioning the political use of the accusation and indicating that the issues raised by the right did not constitute a constitutional infraction, as reported by El Mostrador.

Ninth Setback for Boric’s Ministers

Grau’s legal team, led by attorney Patricio Zapata, argued that the accusations were based solely on methodological differences in fiscal projections and emphasized that, in no case, do they imply violations of the Constitution or the law. They also highlighted the support of technical entities like the Fiscal Council, whose reports confirmed that the observed discrepancies were due to estimation criteria, not to errors or concealment of information, and that the accusation relied on political interpretations of fiscal management rather than legally attributable facts against the former minister.

After the vote, the former secretary of state expressed gratitude to «senators of differing political views who, despite these differences, evaluated the accusation on its own merits.»

With the rejection of all four chapters, the constitutional accusation against Grau became the ninth such initiative to fail against ministers of the Boric government. This result has sparked a debate on the use of this mechanism and left an uncomfortable conclusion for its proponents: the right’s inability to act as a block in a key vote underscores that the primary obstacle to their political aspirations lies in their own internal divisions.

La entrada Right-Wing Coalition Fractures as Senate Rejects Constitutional Accusation Against Nicolás Grau se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.