The constitutional convention was the solution that the Chilean political system defined to institutionally face the conflicts that began after the “social outbreak” in October 2019. The entry plebiscite was solid in its results, showing that almost 80% of Chileans favored a new constitution. The convention began its work in July 2021, fulfilling its task within the year that had been set by law. For the election of the conventional ones, it was allowed that independent people could be grouped in lists that could distribute the votes in the same conditions as the political parties. As a consequence of this, the independents, plus the seats reserved for indigenous peoples, achieved a high representation in the composition of the convention and the traditional political parties a minority participation.
Since the beginning of the work of the convention, various members have positioned themselves with strident voices and disruptive positions against the political system. Citizens were able to verify new struggle flags associated with certain identities, which imposed very ornate, extensive and sometimes contradictory drafting of regulations. To the above, certain concrete facts were added that deepened the discredit of the constituent work, in particular the scandal and lie of one of the conventional ones who used the false suffering of cancer as a platform to search for electoral support.
Even so, until March of this year, most polls reflected that the Approve option had a solid leadership in voting preferences. This fact is reversed when the definitive articles begin to be voted on, where a series of aspects emerge that systematically distance themselves from the citizens’ concerns and respond to identity yearnings that are difficult to understand for ordinary citizens, to which it is possible to add the eccentricity of some conventional. Then warning signs begin to emerge, and the same polls begin to record that only a minority of voters would be inclined to simply approve, and the vast majority to reform or simply reject the project.
In June, the Party for Democracy PPD (center-left, related to the government coalition) issued a statement calling for the “Approve and improve” the constitutional proposal, in which, although it highlights some of the benefits of the text, it specifies six aspects unclear and 11 elements that they propose to definitively modify, among which are a reform of the electoral system, which is the heart of the political system, reestablishing the Senate and replenishing the Judicial Power as a counterweight to the Executive and the Legislative. The PPD proposal was not well received initially, because it was considered that it meant an acknowledgment of the weakness of the proposal to be voted on.
A month later, the center-right parties did the same, but in this case, calling for the rejection of the proposal to achieve a Constitution that manages to rediscover Chileans, but at the same time accept ten elements of the initial proposal, which would remain in continuity , among these is considered the concept of “social and democratic State of Rights”.
After much coming and going, in August the government coalition opens to commit to some modifications and clarifications of constitutional norms, including the political system, judicial system and social rights. In this way, the crack in the draft constitution had already been made, very few were satisfied and the vast majority wanted to reform a proposal that did not generate consensus.
This week’s resounding electoral result is a clear sign of the weakness contained in the original proposal, but in turn the same process allowed at least four elements to be chosen to advance in the immediate future. In the first place, the vast majority of Chileans are in favor of a new constitution, this is a fact impossible to ignore and necessary for social peace. Secondly, there are several spaces for consensus around aspects that were raised formally and publicly and that will have to be incorporated in the next stage, such as the recognition of indigenous peoples, greater decentralization, the social rule of law, environmental protection. and others. Third, in this new phase it will not be convenient to start from a blank page, it has already been demonstrated that Chile has a history and it is important to recognize republican institutions. Last but not least, despite the great political defeat, the Government has a great opportunity to convene and consolidate a process of change that is desired by the citizens.
Source: EL PAIS
