Chileans will vote in a month and a half new Constitution proposal that was approved this Monday by the Constitutional Council, body dominated by the right, and that generates tension among the political class and apathy among the population.
By 33 votes in favor and 17 against, the Council gave the green light to a document with 17 chapters and 216 articles which, according to all polls, has a high probability of being rejected in the December 17 plebiscite.
“We have prepared a text that has the potential to become a fundamental tool to lead the country out of stagnation, insecurity and political and social instability,” said the president of the Council, Beatriz Hevia, in her last intervention.
While defenders of the text argue that the proposal guarantees “freedom” and “security” and provides “economic certainty and legal” to the country, its critics say that it perpetuates the neoliberal model and represents “setbacks” in terms of rights.
“The conditions were in place to achieve the objective of building a great agreement. It is regrettable to see that this will was not on the part of some,” said Edmundo Eluchans, of the conservative Independent Democratic Union (UDI).
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The socialist Alejandro Köhler also regretted the “lack of agreements” but blamed the right for “imposing an exclusive text, dogmatic, retrograde and polarizing (…) that favors only businessmen and the powerful, the always privileged.”
“The Constitution that we are proposing is better than the current one, much better, because it takes charge of the challenges of a Chile very different from that of 1980,” indicated Republican Luis Silva, one of the most media-friendly advisors.
These are the keys to the proposal that the Council will officially deliver on November 7 to the Chilean presidentGabriel Boric, to call the referendum that will decide whether the text is approved or rejected.
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What are the biggest novelties of the text?
The social and democratic State of law is the great novelty with respect to the
Constitution legacy of the dictatorship (1973-1990), which established a subsidiary State and promoted the privatization of basic services, such as education, health or pensions.
The new text enshrines the concept in article 1: “The State of Chile is social and democratic by law, “that recognizes fundamental rights and freedoms, constitutional duties, and promotes the progressive development of social rights (…) through state and private institutions.”
This is a historic aspiration of the Chilean left, but the sector has not been satisfied. and assures that there are articles that “empty” the concept, such as those that establish that each person has the right to choose “state or private” institutions for their pension funds or their health contributions.
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“The text is full of norms that disfigure the social State. An example is the norm that establishes the right of property over pension funds, something that does not exist in any other Constitution in the world, Javier Couso, from the Diego Portales University, explained to Efe. .
On the contrary, Rodrigo de Arce, from the Institute of Social Studies, does believe that “the social and legal State is reasonably included.” thanks also to article 24 “which imposes intense duties on the State to remove obstacles and promote social rights.”
What are the most controversial articles in the new text?
One of the articles that generates the most controversy is “the right to life of the unborn”, a rule that for many could affect the law that allows abortion on the three grounds.
“An attempt has been made to weaken the decriminalization of abortion, but above all to prevent the causes from being expanded in the future,” Couso said.
The articles that establish “household confinement” for prisoners with terminal illnesses, which could favor those convicted of human rights violations during the regime; or the tax exemption for the first home, which benefits people with higher incomes.
Among its 216 articles there are also some points that empower the authorities to more quickly declare states of exception, under which rights can be limited.
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It also introduces a rule that orders the expulsion “in the shortest possible time” of foreigners who enter Chile “clandestinely.” or through non-authorized steps”, in a nod to the sectors that demand a tougher 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.
“The right seeks to constitutionalize its morals and this is not something that is in question, this has been recognized by counselor Luis Silva, who said that the proposal ‘more accommodates’ the spectrum that goes from the center-right to the right,” he reminded Efe Julieta Suárez-Cao, from the Catholic University.
What will happen if the text is rejected at the polls?
The proposal voted on this Monday will be delivered on November 7 to the leftist president Gabriel Boric, who must call a plebiscite on December 17, when voters will decide whether or not to incorporate the new Constitution.
Chile is really enjoying reaching constitutional consensus because there is enormous resistance
But polls have been warning for months that the text does not have citizen support to be approved in December, just as happened with the first proposal prepared by a left-wing body and massively rejected at the polls in September 2022.
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And Chile is currently advancing in its second attempt to have a new Constitution.ion 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 it was put in charge of a body dominated by the right.
However, the latest Pulso Ciudadano poll revealed this Sunday that 69.7% of Chileans would be inclined to vote against it and that only 30.3% would choose to approve it. The opposition anticipated that it will vote in favor while the ruling party hopes to make a joint decision after November 7, although several of its leaders have expressed criticism of the project.
“Chile is really enjoying reaching constitutional consensus because there is enormous resistance to change among the most powerful actors, who only support changes in their favor and who do not tend to respond to the demands that citizens had in the social outbreak of 2019” , assured Suárez-Cao.
If the proposal is finally rejected in December, the current one will remain in force
Constitution, which has already been reformed dozens of times in democracy but is questioned due to its dictatorial origin.
The Government of President Gabriel Boric has already announced that it will not promote a third process. Couso believes that, if the rejection wins in the referendum, the constitutional debate “will be paused for 5 or 10 years” because “there is a lot of citizen fatigue.”
If, on the other hand, it is approved, The expert predicts “a great judicialization due to the numerous contradictions contained in the text.”
*With AFP and EFE
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