Senator Naranjo: "The Alianza does not have the moral authority to criticize primaries"

SANTIAGO.- The chief assistant of the board of PS senators, Jaime Naranjo, has rejected criticism from the Alianza regarding the left-wing primary elections. "The right and Piñera have no moral authority to criticize the Concertación primaries, since they have never held this kind of event to designate their presidential candidate", Naranjo declared.

The senator added that the presidential candidate for the right "has been chosen by Pinochet (the first time) or by right-wing parties and when they haven't been able to reach an agreement, there have been two candidates".

In Naranjo's opinion, in order to have moral authority, one must not act like the "'priest Gatica', who criticizes but does not practice what he preaches". The senator also indicated that "Piñera and the right, due to their authoritative nature, fear having their own members designate a candidate and prefer to hand-pick their representatives".

Naranjo also stated that right-wing leaders "do not understand this type of democracy, which ended yesterday with the triumph of Senator Frei. Any kind of participation from the people will always be better than hand-picking a candidate".