President of Chamber of Deputies: New agreement must be respected

SANTIAGO.- Today, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Francisco Encina (PS), spoke out against the attitude of some Concertación deputies who, in protest of the nomination of Jovino Novoa to the Senate presidency, plan to disregard the agreement signed with the Alianza so that UDI Member of Parliament Rodrigo Álvarez can take over as the head of the Senate.

"Here we need to completely separate the Senate from the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate has its own way of electing its board, where there is an agreement between the Independents and the right wing. It is obvious that people come to  Parliament with a history, and in this case, the senators are responsible for making decisions that they believe are best in terms of who will take on leadership roles", stated the legislator.

Encina also pointed out that with regards to the Chamber, the government had reached an agreement with the Alianza, and in his opinion, "that should absolutely be respected".

"Meanwhile, I am going to present my resignation from the presidency, which will be submitted on Thursday and voted upon on Tuesday, so that on Wednesday the 18th a new board can be elected. I will honor the agreement on the terms that were defined last year", he stated.