The Chilean Constitutional Council has begun voting on the first articles of what is expected to be the new Magna Carta. This is the second attempt to change the document created during the time of Augusto Pinochet.
Chile’s Constitutional Council began voting on Friday on the first articles of the Magna Carta, which will replace the one drawn up by the military, amid major differences between the right-wing opposition and the left-wing ruling party.
That is Chile’s second attempt to change the constitution introduced in 1981 by the military dictatorship (1973-1990) within one year. The first failed when 62% of voters rejected a project prepared by a predominantly left-wing party conference.
A year later, the Constitutional Council, with 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 party has 16 seats Representative.
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 approval by two-thirds of the vote and contain the text that will be put to a referendum in December.
Although the article about what type of state Chile is was approved, the ruling party is dissatisfied as it believes it is not as strong as expected and has been 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.
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 75 serving their sentences at home and mentions, among other things, sports and national dancing.
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, which presented 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, former Socialist President Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010 and 2014-2018) said she was very worried because “there are symptoms that suggest we may not give. “a good and new constitution for the country.”
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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, former center-right President Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014 and 2018-2022) stated that the work of the Council “must be the result of comprehensive and solid agreements that go beyond the current situation” 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 project 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 ten 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.