a historic day

On September 4, an unprecedented plebiscite will be held in Chile to define whether the citizenry approves or rejects a text of the new Constitution, drawn up by a Constitutional Convention elected with gender parity and seats reserved for indigenous peoples. Whatever the outcome, this historic milestone symbolizes that the country’s course has already changed.

The social outbreak of October 2019 and the massive social mobilizations that followed, with minority expressions of great violence, expressed a discomfort with the development model and the prevailing inequalities in the country. The period of 30 years in democracy, the period of greatest economic progress and social inclusion in contemporary history, was questioned either because of the timidity of making more daring changes or because of the obstacles imposed by a right based on a constitution born in a dictatorship, although reformed in democracy, with remaining padlocks.

The broad demand for change, and the political crisis that arose, was channeled into the Agreement for Peace and a New Constitution, which the presidents of various parties signed on November 15, 2019, and in the subsequent plebiscite on October 25, 2020. where the citizens voted, by almost 80%, in favor of the elaboration of a new constitution through a Constitutional Convention. In turn, the election of 155 members of the Convention took place in May 2021.

In the upcoming exit plebiscite, it is not clear if Approval will win, since the polls give advantage to Rejection, possibly in a narrow result. Part of the uncertainty lies in the fact that this plebiscite will be with a compulsory vote, for which many people who do not normally vote, when the vote is voluntary, will do so this time for fear of fines or social pressure. The Approval does not have a decisive advantage in the opinion polls because the constitutional process was full of unfortunate declarations and performances by some conventionalists, armed with a refoundational spirit that generated reluctance in the population, and because doubts arose, even in center-left sectors, on norms related to plurinationality, the unity of the State, the political system, checks and balances in a presidential system, judicial institutions, and other aspects.

On the other hand, the level of approval of the Government of President Gabriel Boric, which has suffered sharp declines since its inauguration just over five months ago, will affect the outcome of the plebiscite; and this, in turn, will define the future direction of the Government. Surely, in any scenario there will be ministerial adjustments.

Although only the Approval or Rejection options will appear on the ballot paper, I belong to a political sector that argued early in favor of Approval, recognizing, however, that the constitutional text is far from perfect and deserves to be improved or reformed. For this purpose, we identified a dozen regulations that must be changed, and we were able to finalize, together with all the official parties, an agreement to promote said changes after September 4.

The constitutional text, although it has gaps and inaccuracies, has the merit of consecrating, as in the Spanish and German Constitutions, a social and democratic state of law. In addition, it establishes gender equity, advanced protection of nature, including the protection of the immense Chilean Ocean, absent from the country’s previous constitutions, and norms for inclusive development with guaranteed social rights.

The day after the plebiscite, the constitutional change process will continue. A new chapter of the most democratic constitutional process in the history of Chile will begin. Either, in case the Approval wins, to start the extensive process of enacting laws to implement the constitution, and to reform those aspects that the governing parties have committed to perfecting; or, in the event that the Rejection wins, to define the preferred mechanism for preparing a new draft constitution — a mechanism that, in my opinion, should be a new Constitutional Convention more limited in time. The recent legislative approval of the reduction of the high quorums for the reform of the current Constitution to 4/7, would facilitate, in such a circumstance, the process leading to a new trial of elaboration of the democratic constitution that the country decided to give itself.

In both hypotheses, whether Approval or Rejection wins, efforts will have to be made to overcome the logic of political revenge and renew civic coexistence in a pact for the future. People have the right to demand consensus from the political class after a long period of attrition and political and social confrontation, and considering that the government has formidable challenges of citizen security, irregular immigration, access to quality health and education, decent pension , violence in the so-called South macrozone, and economic growth and employment.

There is no doubt. Chile changed and will have a new Constitution, ideally one that is perfected and in accordance with the new reality of a more democratic, diverse and complex country.

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