Chilean President Gabriel Boric speaks at the opening session of the Constitutional Council in June (AP Photo/Esteban Félix)
Chile’s Constitutional Council began voting on Friday on the first articles of the Magna Carta, which will replace the one passed by the military in the middle of the year big differences between the right-wing opposition and the left-wing government party.
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This is Chile’s second attempt in a year to amend the constitution introduced in 1981 by the military dictatorship (1973-1990). The first failed when 62% of voters rejected a project prepared by a predominantly left-wing party conference.
A year later, the Constitutional Council of 50 democratically elected members is more than two-thirds dominated by the opposition: The far-right Republican Party has 22 seats and the traditional right has 11, while the center-left has 16 seats and there is one indigenous representative.
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The first approved article stated that Chile was a social and democratic state governed by the rule of law, while the first rejected amendment came from the extreme right and stated that “every human being is a person.”
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The articles require an agreement of two thirds of the votes and integrate the text There will be a referendum in December.
Constitutional experts draft a new constitutional proposal at the National Congress in Santiago, Chile (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Although the article about what type of state Chile is was adopted, the ruling party is dissatisfied with it He estimates that he is not as strong as expected and was moved from first to second place. The pro-life text was rejected because, as drafted by the Republican Party, it could represent a setback for the law that allows abortions on three grounds. The council vote runs until October 7th.
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Although no further changes can be made, it is possible to insist on further adjustments when drafting the regulations.
The first chapter under discussion also deals with prisoners over the age of 75 serving their sentences at home mentions, among other things, sports and national dance.
The Council introduced changes and made changes in the order of presentation of the articles of a preliminary draft prepared by a commission of 24 experts appointed by the political parties that submitted the draft a text that takes into account twelve constitutional bases that place limits on the final text.
Given the differences between the ruling party and the opposition on several issues, the former socialist president said Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010 and 2014-2018), said this week that she was very concerned because “There are symptoms that suggest we may not be able to give the country a good new constitution.”
He added that Republicans want to “pull their weight to give identity signals to their voters” on public policies they don’t share, such as health care, insurance and abortion.
For his part, the former center-right president Sebastian Pinera (2010-2014 and 2018-2022) stated that the Council’s work must be “the result of comprehensive and solid agreements that go beyond the current circumstances” in order to be accepted by the majority of Chileans. He added that a Magna Carta is not a government program, a law or a regulation.
The draft presented by the Council will be voted on in a referendum on December 17th. If approved, it will be published in the Official Gazette and come into force 10 days later, according to the current constitution, which does not specify what will happen if it is rejected. Experts assume that the current Magna Carta would remain in force. A possible third constitutional process would have to be approved by Congress.
(With information from AP)