The Constitutional Convention concluded this Tuesday drafting of a new Constitution for Chile and, after a year of work, he will deliver the Magna Carta project to the leftist president Gabriel Boric next Monday.
The final point in the constitutional drafting process occurred two days earlier than expected after the right-wing constituents resolved to rthrow out a series of petitions to vote amendments separately. After the delivery of the draft of the new Constitution to President Boric next Monday, it will be submitted to a plebiscite with a mandatory vote on September 4.
Amid applause, hugs and shouts of joy from the 154 members of the Constitutional Conventionits president María Elisa Quinteros concluded the sessions that began on July 4 of last year to draft a new Magna Carta to replace the current one, inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
“We are very happy, it has been a very arduous year, of a lot of work, which has been expressed in very intense days of sessions. However, despite all the negative forecasts, we have been advancing and arrived in time and form at the task that we have was commissioned,” said Quinteros.
The drafting of the constitutional text was the political solution that Chile found to appease the violent protests that broke out on October 18, 2019, demanding greater social justice in a very unequal country.
The draft Constitution enshrines a State that guarantees health, education, decent housing and a pension, and innovates by including the right to “voluntary termination of pregnancy”.
It also establishes a new ordering of the political and justice system, along with a new way of distributing power in regional governments.
The session concluded with the final vote on the report of the Harmonization Commission, which made improvements to the wording of the final text and reduced the articles of the draft Fundamental Charter from 499 to 387.
“Today we close a cycle. We have the definitive text of the proposal for a new Constitution. With hope, profound debates, with democracy, some errors, but with deep love for our country, this Convention proposes a new and better path for Chile. The people of Chile will say,” wrote the constituent and actor Ignacio Achurra when referring to the September plebiscite to approve or reject this text.
To read between a campaign
Over the weekend, some polls showed an increase in the option of rejecting the referendum in September, at a time of strong divisions of opinion regarding the tone of the debates within the Convention and a series of statements loaded with misinformation with regarding articles that have to do with education, civil liberties, indigenous rights and private property.
Next Monday, the constituents will meet for the last time in what has been their headquartersthe former Congress in Santiago, to deliver the proposal for a new Constitution to Boric, after which the Constitutional Convention will be dissolved.
“As of July 4, we are going to leave the fake news behind and we will begin a process of informed, transparent debate, backed by our main source, which is the text of the new Constitution that is going to be delivered to us,” said the minister, spokesperson for Government, Camila Vallejo.
The minister added that although “it seems obvious” she wanted to remember that “democracy will continue to function after September 4 with its legislative initiatives, constitutional initiatives, democratic debates, whatever the position of the popular representatives and the citizenry.”
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Boric must call the plebiscite on September 4. If he wins the rejection option, the current Magna Carta written behind closed doors during the Pinochet dictatorship and reformed in some points during the 30 years of democracy will be maintained.
The Convention was the first in Chile to have democratically elected members, elected with gender parity and with 17 seats reserved for representatives of indigenous peoples.
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