The right-wing forces in Chile approved this Monday a new draft Constitution to replace the one imposed by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, which essentially preserves the same conservative tone and will be submitted to a plebiscite in December.
With 33 votes in favor and 17 against, the Constitutional Council gave way to a new regulatory framework to replace the one that has been in force since 1980.
Among its 216 articles are several controversial ones that toughen the treatment of irregular migration or empower authorities to more quickly declare states of exception, under which rights can be limited.
“The new Constitution is better than the current one, because it takes charge of a Chile very different from that of 1980; with the most urgent challenge being security,” said lawyer Luis Silva, of the Republican partyor, which obtained 22 of the 50 seats on the Council.
Although the current Magna Carta of 143 articles was reformed several times, it still continues to divide Chileans who already rejected at the polls a first draft Constitution promoted by the left.
The proposal voted on this Monday will be delivered on November 7 to leftist President Gabriel Boric, who must call a plebiscite on December 17, when voters will decide whether to incorporate a new Constitution or maintain the one inherited from the dictatorship.
Chile is advancing in its second attempt to obtain a new Constitution after the social protests that broke out in 2019, demanding greater social equality.
After the plebiscite that rejected the first initiative, the political forces agreed to draft another proposal, but this time he was left in charge of a body dominated by the right.
Among the most controversial modifications is one that, according to the left, paves the way for the current abortion law to be reviewed on three grounds: rape, non-viability of the fetus and when the mother’s life is at risk.
It also introduces a rule that orders the expulsion “in the shortest possible time” of foreigners who enter Chile “clandestinely or through unauthorized passages,” in a nod to the sectors that demand a strong hand in the face of the increase in insecurity they associate with migration.
In the last decade, some 1.7 million migrants have arrived in Chile, almost half of them Venezuelans. For the left represented in the Council, the new text “is more abusive and exclusive than the current Constitution,” according to counselor María Pardo.
According to polls, this project will also be rejected in December. The weekly Cadem survey maintains that the “against” would reach 51%, while the “for” 34%.
Afp
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