According to El Mostrador, Senator Rojo Edwards finished in third place, with 21 votes, in the election to lead the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The vote took place this Friday, October 9. Edwards had the political and diplomatic backing of President José Antonio Kast's government.
The winner was Australian lawmaker Milton Dick, who received 56% of the vote. Dick will head the organization from 2026 to 2029. Second place went to Sahiba Gafarova, Azerbaijan's representative.
The IPU brings together 183 parliaments from different countries. For Chile, the candidacy was an opportunity for a Chilean senator to lead an organization of that reach. The source does not detail the voting system or the exact number of votes received by Dick and Gafarova.
According to El Mostrador, the government lobbied internationally in the preceding weeks to promote the candidacy. One of its main efforts took place during Kast's trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. There, the President held meetings to gather support for Edwards.
In September, The Clinic reported that those efforts had positioned the senator among the three leading candidates. The result confirmed that standing, although he finished far behind the winner.
The political cost falls on the senator and also on La Moneda, which put its diplomatic capital behind the candidacy. For ordinary citizens, the direct effect is limited: the IPU is a forum for coordination among parliaments, with no power over Chilean legislation.
After the result was announced, Edwards wrote on X that his candidacy was a very effective way to project Chile on the international stage. According to his post, the experience helped strengthen ties and open opportunities for cooperation with parliamentarians around the world.
In the same message, the senator thanked Kast, Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna, Senate President Paulina Núñez, and Chamber of Deputies President Jorge Alessandri for their support. Milton Dick will take over the leadership of the IPU for the 2026 to 2029 term.
