Rejection supporters in Santiago, Chile, on September 4th. MARTIN BERNETTI (AFP)
The rejection’s overwhelming victory in the Sept. 4 constitutional vote has put President Gabriel Boric and the groups supporting the new text in a position to seek dialogue and moderation. That is exactly what the left did in the 1990s.
The geographer Jared Diamond has a brief but very valuable analysis of the arbitration process that took place in Chile after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). He reflected on it in his book Crisis: How Countries Respond at Crucial Moments (2019). According to Diamond, the left of the time had to abandon the intransigence of the past and learn to tolerate and negotiate in order to reach agreements with other political forces and thus be able to heal the historical wounds and start rebuilding the country. This is how the Concertación, the coalition that ruled the country until 2010, came into being. What happened in this period of Chilean history can serve as a reference for the success of the new constituent process.
The conciliatory rhetoric and recent changes in Boric’s cabinet are signs that the Chilean president understands his situation. It’s not clear if the same can be said of the other sectors that have been driving the change.
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Conventional lawmakers — democratically elected MPs to write the new constitution that was adopted in a referendum — strove to craft an environmentally conscious, feminist, and indigenous text that would serve as a basis for dealing with the South American country’s vast inequality. You were empowered to know that 78% of citizens were inclined to convene a Constituent Assembly in 2020 Chile. The left-wing groups thought that the majority of people agreed with their positions, but in the end only 38% of the population voted in favor.
Aurenque and other experts agree that the outcome of the referendum cannot be attributed to one cause alone. The Boric government’s low approval rating (around 37% in August) and inappropriate behavior by some conventionalists definitely affected the outcome. But the content of the text itself was one of the most important catalysts. It contained controversial points such as declaring a “plurinational state” and establishing “indigenous courts,” raising fears it would end up in a country with two judicial systems. The recognition of the right to housing also triggered many discussions, which, according to the opposition, opened the door to expropriations.
For Eugenio Tironi, a doctor of sociology and communications director in the government of President Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994), “every call for moderation was nullified” in the Constituent Assembly. “Here we have come from a paper to a constitution without political, historical or ethnographic mediation,” explains the scientist from Santiago. Tironi claims that some of the scandalous points – like the decentralization of the state or the recognition of indigenous peoples – would have found greater acceptance if they had been taken with “more moderation”.
The sociologist also explains that it is necessary to understand the different historical moments in which the plebiscites took place. The process that led to the adoption of the Constituent Assembly grew out of the riots of 2019, the largest in Chile’s democratic history, which gave the university left legitimacy as a political actor. But between then and 2022 there was a pandemic and presidential elections (in which the extreme right of José Antonio Kast won in the first round); In addition, uncertainty intensified and the economy experienced a significant deterioration. The climate was different and the left was unaware of it.
“The conventionalists did not react sensitively to this shift in opinion and embraced the concerns they had brought to the congress,” explains Tironi, who describes this behavior as a sign of political inexperience.
The result of the referendum was a bucket of cold water for the left. Mandatory participation was requested for the first time, and the result revealed a “disconnection with the real Chile,” according to Ascanio Cavallo, a journalist, political analyst and member of the Chilean Language Academy, via video conference. While the country was going through a state of “semi-recession” and ordinary citizens’ concerns focused on the lack of jobs and the cost of living, Cavallo said the convention had other concerns, “very student, very upper class”. Therefore, the analysts are not surprised that the majority of votes against the constitution come from the poorest layers of Chilean society.
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In the ranks of the left, the story has become popular that the rejection victory was the result of false news and fear campaigns from the right predicting Chile’s transformation into a different Venezuela. For Cavallo, however, it’s time to admit defeat: “I think they have to explain something they don’t understand and still don’t understand.” When the numbers show such a stark difference, the fake news argument loses momentum.
The left failed in this first attempt to bury the 1980 constitution, that remnant of military dictatorship, but its struggle is not over. The President has confirmed the start of a second process as the people’s mandate to draft a new text is still in force. Perhaps the Left should take the path of moderation, approaching citizens’ concerns and not repeating mistakes.
“Chile don’t need a winger and Boric needs to be president of this medium. It is difficult to do this when you have criticized previous governments for doing so,” explains the philosopher Aurenque. Boric is no longer a student leader, he is now president and has to deal with the realities of politics. The replacement of key figures in his cabinet – giving way to traditional concertación politics – and the first moves towards the center are signs of change, but convincing the opposition will not be easy. “In Chile, I see very little generosity from side to side. As citizens, we must demand more of this political greatness. Do real politics and not just opportunistic attacks,” says the thinker.
As Boric began searching for that “middle ground,” student movements started new protests and took over subway stations in Santiago. A few years ago, Boric was one of these students: he demonstrated on the streets and demanded a better country. Now, as President, he must rule for both them and the 62% who voted against the Constitution. With a broken country, it is bound to aim high and strive to build “a Chile for all Chileans,” as Patricio Aylwin said in 1990.
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