Chile’s second attempt to change its Constitution in force since 1980, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, enters a key stage this Friday: the vote on amendments in the plenary session of the Constitutional Council, a 50-member body that drafts a new Charter Fundamental on the basis of a text worked on by a Commission of Experts. But the process faces serious problems. The eight political parties present in the Council are unable to bring their positions closer together, which is why different leaders have called for agreements to be reached. On Wednesday, at the ICARE meeting focused precisely on the dialogue of the constituent process, where a good part of the leaders of Chilean public opinion attended, former presidents Michelle Bachelet and Sebastián Piñera asked for greater efforts.
For Piñera, who has played the role of interlocutor of his political sector with the Government of Gabriel Boric, it is essential that a new Constitution have “broad and solid support” to be accepted by the “immense majority”, so “it has “It must be the result of broad and solid agreements that transcend the circumstances of the moment.” According to Piñera, in this task “we cannot fail.” Ruler of Chile between 2010 and 2014 and between 2018 and 2022 by the forces of the traditional right, he said that a Constitution “is not a government program, it is not a law, it is not a regulation” and that “without a doubt the wise countries who want freedoms, justice, progress and peace, have managed to reach a social pact.”
The socialist Bachelet, who governed between 2006 and 2010 and between 2014 and 2018, assured: “It is not inevitable to fail again and perpetuate our disagreements,” in relation to the fiasco of Chile’s first constituent attempt, which ended a year ago with 62. % of Chileans rejecting the proposal for a Constitutional Convention dominated by the left. And she expressed herself “very worried.” She was heard by the presidents of seven of the eight parties represented on the council, with the exception of the Communist Party, which did not attend the meeting. “If democracy is at risk, what corresponds is to give in, but everyone gives in,” said the former president.
This council is dominated by the right, unlike the convention that worked between 2021 and 2022. Only the extreme Republican Party took 22 of the 50 seats in the May elections, while the traditional one, grouped in Chile Vamos, It has 11 seats. The ruling party, meanwhile, has 16 councilors. Bachelet referred to the amendments proposed in recent weeks by the opposition, which has asserted its majority status. “There are some who have tried to impose their preferences, out of revenge or demagoguery, but I call on my sector not to become obfuscated, to don’t throw in the towel early. We must do our best and show our best spirit until the last minute,” said the socialist.
Last week the process of voting on amendments in the four commissions of the Constitutional Council ended. There, no agreements were reached and the negotiating table broke down. The ruling party requested, without success, that all the amendments voted so far be withdrawn.
Bachelet clarified that what she wants is to support the text in the December exit plebiscite, which is why changes are required. “If the proposed new Constitution regresses women’s rights, I would not be able to vote in favor,” the former president said in mid-August.
The main knots
The text that the plenary session of the Constituent Council will begin to debate starting this Friday is divided into 17 chapters and has substantive changes with respect to the document presented by the Expert Commission at the end of May. Among the points that generate the greatest controversy is the Social State, which was in the experts’ proposal, but which was diluted within the framework of the subsequent discussion of the council, where they were completely changed in the first article. Likewise, the right has supported two issues that, according to the ruling party, could mean a setback in the rights of women to decide about their bodies: “The law protects the life of the unborn” and “every human being is person”.
A Republican Party norm has also generated special public debate: the one that declares the cueca and the rodeo as dance and national sport, respectively, so they must be respected and honored. For the left and part of the traditional right, these are not issues that the Constitution should resolve.
There are a significant number of amendments that do not generate consensus. The academic Claudio Fuentes, who follows the constitutional discussion in detail, reported on Wednesday that “the proposed new Constitution exempts religious denominations from paying all types of contributions” and that “associations contrary to morality are prohibited.”
For the left, it is essential that a robust social and democratic State of law be established in a new Constitution, ensuring that there are no setbacks regarding freedoms to abort – in Chile today there is the possibility on three well-defined grounds – or the change of number of deputies and districts. According to the proposed exit from the council, promoted by the right, Congress would drop from 155 to 138 deputies and the districts would be reduced, which are currently 28. According to the ruling party, this measure has been pushed because it would help the current opposition in the urns.
For Ana Lya Uriarte, representative of the Socialist Party at the Icare meeting, “the text, as it stands today, urgently requires a rescue operation.” Diego Ibáñez, president of the Social Convergence party, where Boric is a member, said that as the text stands today, he would vote against it. The leader of another Broad Front party, Democratic Revolution, Senator Juan Ignacio Latorre, thinks that the current draft even represents a setback with respect to the current Constitution (which has had 60 reforms since 1989).
Evópoli, from the traditional right, would expect greater breadth in the draft Constitution (“it still does not reflect the type of country we want,” said the president, Gloria Hutt), but the other two parties in this sector, RN and the UDI, They would be about to support it in the plebiscite next December, when there are two options in the trash: for and against. The Republican Party, meanwhile, this Wednesday opened itself to eliminating the rule that establishes that the cueca is the national dance.
The referendum is scheduled for December 17, with mandatory voting. According to the Cadem survey at the end of August, the vote in favor in the plebiscite is at 30%, while the rejection remains at 53%.
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