Inaugural meeting of the Constitutional Council that will draft a new constitution on June 7, 2023 in the old Congress building in Santiago. Esteban Felix (AP)
Since Chile’s Constitutional Council began voting on Friday September 16 to draft a draft constitution that must be presented on October 7 to pass a second phase of review, the process has been convoluted and carries a high risk of failure . This possibility has mobilized a group of political groups to provoke a new fiasco. The 50-member body, in which the left-wing ruling party has just 17 seats and the opposition 33, has approved amendments from the far-right Republican Party, which is in control with 22 delegates. If last week articles such as “the right to life of the unborn”, the immediate expulsion of migrants who enter through unauthorized steps and the tax exemption for the first home (which benefits those with higher incomes) were passed, this Monday the The chapter on the National Congress was approved. In addition, a regulation was issued that reduced the current number of 155 representatives to 138.
Critics of the draft are increasing over time and, faced with the risk of a second defeat, parties are attempting a rescue operation far from the extremes. The newspaper La Tercera reported that this Monday the presidents of the UDI and RN parties of the traditional right opposition and the Socialist Party of the official left met to find formulas and save the current process. Although there are still a few steps to improve the text – the new draft will be returned to the expert commission on October 7th – these options are becoming increasingly narrower over time.
It has been a complex process which, according to various opinion polls, not only does not meet with the interest or trust of citizens, but which has also led to increasing voter rejection, although it is not yet complete. In this regard, Sunday’s Cadem poll showed that 59% of respondents would not approve of the new constitution, up two points from a week ago. Only 21% are in favor of supporting the text in the December 17 referendum, the lowest figure in six months.
The tensions within the Constitutional Council that prevailed during the votes extended beyond the plenary session. This happened because, to the complex climate that already exists in the body between the ruling party and the opposition, the criticism of the traditional right has now been added to the recognized norms propagated by the Republicans, whose leader José Antonio Kast wants for run for office. The currency in 2025.
On Sunday, Providencia Mayor Evelyn Matthei, of the UDI, a party affiliated with Chile Vamos and the traditional right’s main presidential ticket, said in an interview with CNN that this second constitutional process is “directly doomed.” and “The only way to solve this problem is to have a final text as similar as possible to the experts’ text.” And he added: “I hope that it can be approved. I am not saying that I am against the adoption of a new constitution. What I mean to say is that this one that the city councilors are now writing will not be approved, has no chance of being approved” and that “the only way that can be approved is to provide stability.” That means there has to be a consensus and this consensus is generated by the text of the experts, but not by what is being voted on in the Council today.”
Following Matthei’s warning, Kast launched an offensive this Monday through his X account (exTwitter), publishing messages throughout the day in which he defended the Republican amendments and criticized the opposition and the government.
Apparently Gabriel Boric’s government has already decided through its parliamentarians to submit the expert draft to Congress as a constitutional reform.
They want to annul the Constitutional Council secretary elected by more than 12 million Chileans.
— José Antonio Kast Rist 🇨🇱 (@joseantoniokast) September 25, 2023
There is a fundamental problem: “No one really wants to bear the costs of sticking to the approval option, only to be defeated and probably destroyed in the exit vote next December,” wrote Alfredo Joignant in EL PAÍS this weekend. From the Republican Party’s perspective, this is what Matthei, the right-winger who is defending himself against Kast with a more liberal speech, is trying to do: take the burden of an eventual defeat in the referendum off of him and transfer it to the Republican Party.
Matthei’s statements confused the board. There are currently voices from the left in Chile that the draft from the expert commission, which has presented a moderate and consensus-oriented draft, will go to Congress as a constitutional reform and in this way skip the work of the Council. Kast is against it: “They want to annul the Constitutional Council, elected as secretary by more than 12 million Chileans,” he wrote on the social network X, attributing this operation to the Boric government.
UDI Senator Javier Macaya, from the traditional right, expressed his commitment to the current process on Monday evening, despite the statements of Matthei, a member of his party: “We are working to ensure that ‘For’ wins on December 17th.” a good one To have a constitution that clarifies the constitutional question and gives stability to Chile. We will not support the idea of continuing the process after December 17 by submitting the expert text or anything similar to Congress,” wrote the leader of this historic right-wing party.
A norm on parity was rejected
Chile is making its second attempt in three years to change the constitution, which was created in 1980 during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). In September last year, 62% of citizens rejected the draft law from the Constitutional Convention, the majority of which is made up of left-wing independents. Today the Constitutional Council works on the basis of a preliminary draft drawn up between March and June by the Commission of Experts set up by Congress on the proposal of the political parties to which there is opposition today, in particular the members of the Republican Party, have presented it . a number of amendments.
The change in the number of parliamentarians led to renewed conflict between the ruling party and the opposition. The norm received 30 votes in favor, but three councilors from the Chile Vamos conglomerate, the traditional right, abstained from supporting it. On the other hand, the entire left voted against it, which they blamed on the right, especially the Republicans, because they technically did not know why this number came about (a reform had already been carried out in Chile to increase the number from 120 to 155) . parliamentarians).
Among other things, the plenary session also adopted a regulation that stipulates that parliamentarians who leave the party that declared their candidacy will resign from office. It is a proposal to combat the wayward. The vote was unanimous.
In addition, during the plenary session, which summarizes the discussion of the 50 members of the constitutional body, the transitional regulation on gender parity in Congress was rejected, with Republicans abstaining. It was a proposal from the expert commission that aimed to achieve a balance of 60% and 40% between men and women, which would entail a correction if not met. He would run for the two elections following the entry into force of the new text.