This Sunday's constitutional plebiscite in Chile has not defined the country's stability and, according to some analysts, such as Carlos Peña, there was little or nothing at stake. But he has removed the political board.
These are the keys to the results of this referendum
The 'against' wins by a wide margin
Finally, 11 points separated one option from another: the alternative against reached 55%, while the in favor 44%. It's a big gap. Although in the previous plebiscite the convention proposal was defeated by 62% to 38%, on the right it was recognized in the previous days that a difference greater than 10 points in this referendum was considered very wide. Ultimately, the against he won very comfortably.
High participation
The mandatory vote, which was reinstated two elections ago, has boosted the high participation, which in this plebiscite reached 84%. It is a figure similar to the exit plebiscite of the first constitutional process in September 2022 and last May's election of the Constitutional Council.
More null and white than in the previous plebiscite
In the election of the Constitutional Council last May, a historical record of null and blank votes was recorded, with 21%. But in this plebiscite it decreased: it reached 5%. The voters, therefore, made the decision to vote on one of the two alternatives on the ballot. It was, in any case, double that of the previous exit plebiscite in September 2022, when the nulls and whites reached 2.14%.
Kast appears without the traditional right
The Republican Party was the protagonist of this constitutional process, although it was never about to change the current 1980 Constitution. Its leader, José Antonio Kast, on October 3 made clear his decision to work for the text to be approved and promised to “turn around” the adverse results that They gave him the surveys. Therefore, the defeat of the option against It fully impacts this political force, although it does not exempt the traditional right from responsibilities. Tonight, upon acknowledging his defeat, Kast did not appear with the historic right grouped in Chile Vamos, but only with the forces of the Republican Party. It is a first example of the tension that this sector is beginning to experience, where a fight for hegemony is beginning to be waged. The Republican Party is now left with one senator and 12 deputies, after a sector of the party left the political force in the middle of the constitutional process.
Boric does not celebrate
The President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, has taken care to appear alone from La Moneda, without the official parties that had previously reacted, and together, to the victory of the against. His speech did not have a festive tone and he assured that, after the result, there is “neither celebration nor arrogance” and, above all, he ratified the decision not to insist on a third constitutional process. Boric spoke that since the campaign in favor fake news was invented and there was even an attempt to make the plebiscite a referendum on the Government, but society said No to that way of doing politics. In a process where he tried to keep his distance – although the option to reject the text was evident – the president set his sights on the pending challenges that his Administration will have to address starting tomorrow: security crisis, pension reform, among others. .
The ruling party together and relieved
The 10 official parties and the Christian Democracy, a party that does not belong to the Government, but which rejected the right-wing proposal for a new Constitution, appeared together from the headquarters of the Socialist Party. They did it before President Boric and, unlike the president, they made a more direct political reading of the right-wing proposal and with a more directly celebratory tone. “It became clear that the view of the country and society offered by Kast, the Republicans and the circumstantial majority that was generated at the beginning of the process are not the aspiration of Chilean families and even less the bases for the construction of a country in which everyone and we all feel part of continuing to move forward,” said the president of the Socialist Party, Paulina Vodanovic, one of the leaders of a sector that cannot celebrate. Finally, the Constitution that remains is the one that has its origin in 1980, in the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, which the left always wanted to replace with one worked on in democracy.
The traditional right appeals to constitutional fatigue
The president of the UDI, Javier Macaya, a political force of the traditional right, was one of the first to recognize the defeat of the option defended by his political sector. He did so from the headquarters of his political force, in the municipality of Providencia, and together with demanding that the leftist forces “not raise the constitutional issue again” after the triumph of the against, attributed the result to “constitutional fatigue.” The leader of the UDI, who was instrumental in opening a second process after the fiasco of the first, said that the UDI will sleep peacefully today, in relation to the way in which he got involved to move the proposal forward. It is one of the issues that his party took care of: he did not stop getting involved in the campaign so that the Republicans would not hold him responsible for an eventual defeat. Not everyone, however, thinks the same: the advisor of the Republican Party, Luis Silva, criticized the mayor of Providencia, Evelyn Matthei, from the traditional right: “I think she entered the party late and took a while to enter decisively.”
This political sector will begin, from now on, to fight to regain hegemony in the opposition.
Consensus at the end of the process
After knowing the result, there is consensus among all political forces that Chile ends its attempts to change the current Constitution, because constituent fatigue is recognized.
A broad victory for the 'against' in 13 of the 16 regions
The option of those who rejected the proposal for a new Constitution pushed by the right won in 13 of the 16 regions of the country, while the in favor He only triumphed in three: Maule, Ñuble and La Araucanía, the southern area of the country plagued by violence, where the right usually wins. With 76.52% of tables scrutinized at the national level, the against was imposed in 213 communes, while the in favorat 131.
The right of the right
Kast's Republican Party ended up bankrupt in this constitutional attempt, after a group of militants from the political force, led by Senator Rojo Edwards, resigned to undertake their own libertarian project, further to the right. They did not agree with the attempt to change the current Constitution, they were about to reject the project and this Sunday, after knowing the results, they have come out to settle accounts: “Chile's problems are not constitutional; “This lie was buried today,” the senator said tonight.
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