By Juan Carlos Rodríguez Figueroa. Latin American Summary, May 13, 2023.
From Santiago
The Republican Party won 23 out of 50 lawmakers and will lead the drafting of the new constitution, despite opposing the process.
The victory of the Republican Party (PR) by 35.42 percent (3,451,066 votes) in Chile’s constituent councilor elections has made this far-right group the country’s leading political force with 23 out of 50 councillors.
The PR thus has the majority in the Constitutional Council with veto rights and a paradoxical situation: it has to work out a Magna Carta in a constitutional process promoted by the left, which it has always rejected.
The ruling party, which is made up of the Grand Front, the Communist Party and the Socialist Party in the “Unity for Chile” coalition, achieved the second majority with 28.57 percent (2,782,956 votes) and won 17 deputies.
What brings the balance versus the unbalanced Government of Gabriel Boric is that you have to take that into account as well traditional law (UDI, RN, Evópoli), which received 21.07% (2,053.65 votes) under the name “Chile Seguro”. and 11 representatives, which would ultimately tip the pendulum towards the conservative world. The sum of zero and blank votes is almost 20 percent.
This constituent council – to which will be added a member of indigenous peoples who has obtained the necessary votes – will be responsible for drafting a constitution, together with a group of 24 already appointed experts from the political parties who are already working on a corresponding draft differs so far as possible from what the defunct Constituent Convention delivered in 2021.
The previous proposal was rejected by 61.89 percent of the population, although it had a progressive character that focused on the environment, plurinationality and feminism, and also proposed the end of the Senate and important changes in the economic, educational and healthcare model. The right saw this as a triumph and delayed the process for months, although the main argument used to mobilize the public was to draft a “better” constitution that would “unite” Chileans.
The ruling party calls for unity
This Monday, President Gabriel Boric hailed the triumph of the Republicans – described by the media in Chile as a dry “right-wing” party – and hailed the dismal results of the constitutional convention. “The previous process, and we have to say it, failed because we didn’t know how to listen to each other among dissenters (…) I’m not inviting the Republican Party, which got the first undeniable majority in this election to make the same mistake as back then.”
This morning, on the eve of a ruling party meeting to analyze and decide on the future, various political actors spoke to the media about the need for a stronger agreement. In recent months, the former conciliation parties that have governed the country since 1990 – PPD and the Socialist Party – have absorbed ministers and undersecretaries of state into a government centered around the I Support Dignity Coalition (Broad Front and Communist Party) was.
“The broad front is still alive, even if the rise of the extreme right is bad for Chile,” said Juan Ignacio Latorre, president of Revolución Democrática. “It is time to transcend the dual souls of government. A coalition. Small parties should merge into larger parties. “The next elections must be confronted with the unity of all forces of change,” said MP Daniel Manouchehri. “Popular and transformational forces need to regroup,” said Camilo Escalona, General Secretary of the Socialist Party.
Kast open to the traditional right
The figure of the day was undoubtedly Republican leader José Antonio Kast, who vied for the presidency in the second round in 2021 with the current president of Chile – Gabriel Boric – and received 44.13 percent compared to Boric’s 55.87 percent. Kast has repeatedly declared himself an admirer of Pinochet – responsible for the still valid 1980 constitution and his government program speaks of a return to traditional values against feminism, diversity, abortion and migration.
Kast’s good moment coincides with Cadem poll results showing him leading the presidential election with 20 percent. followed by another historical figure from the right, Providencia Mayor Evelyn Matthei (13 percent).
Already this Monday, Kast perceptively expressed his stance towards the more traditional right – which the Chilean media tends to refer to as the centre-right – in this constituent process: “The talks will always be open (…) There was perhaps still a moment of tension not sought by us because we have always maintained a unified line, therefore we have never refused to talk, to have a dialogue, but always kept our ideas very clear.”
The main split in the conservative forces has to do with the fact that the traditional right of “Chile Seguro” finally agreed to take an active part in the constitutional process, while the Republicans had no interest in doing so, putting them in an unusual situation as they are forced to do so respectively
Source: page/12