From Santiago
And the chilean people did not accept the new constitution that would come to replace the one of 1980, drafted in full dictatorship. With 100% of the tables counted, the “Rejection” won by 61.9% compared to 38.1% of the “I approve”. The polls had predicted the victory of the right, but not with such a comfortable figure. A few hours earlier, with barely 23% of the tables counted, they were already celebrating in the “Rejection” command —which includes the right, but also figures from the Christian Democrats— with shouts, Chilean flags and singing the national anthem. The atmosphere in the command of the “I approve”, and the left that integrated the constitutional convention that drafted the new constitution was not one of the best. Something that contrasted with the citizen party with 300 thousand people last Thursday during the closing of the campaign.
Boric promises new constituent process
“In Chile the institutions work. This September 4thChilean democracy comes out more robust (…) The effort made will not be in vain, because that is how countries advance best, learning from experiences and retracing their tracks to search for new routes. The Chilean people were not satisfied with the proposed constitution. This decision requires our institutions and political actors to let’s work with more dialoguemore effort, respect and affection, “he said on a national network.
“You have to listen to the voice of the people, not only this day but everything that has happened in these last intense years that we have lived. Let’s not forget why we are here. That malaise is still latent and we cannot ignore it, ”he pointed out, in addition to highlighting that the left must be self-critical and be up to these needs of the Chilean people “I promise to build, together with Congress and civil society, a new text that interprets the great majority of citizens”.
Tomorrow first thing in the morning he will meet with the presidents of the chamber of deputies and senators to move quickly, together with a round of talks to collect proposals from different sectors for a new constitutional process, in order to avoid greater uncertainties and build “a new Chile ” to overcome “deep wounds”, as in 1988 with the return to democracy. “We will do it again, I have no doubt about it. And we won’t start from scratch.”Boric said. He also pointed out that he is coming a trim of your cabinet which, should be in the middle of this week.
Pinochet’s ghost does not die
Does this mean that Pinochet’s constitution will stand? At the moment and technically yes. Although the right says it supports Boric’s proposal. “We ratify our commitment to a new and good Constitution”, assured in a joint statement the three presidents of Chile Vamos, a right-wing opposition coalition —Javier Macaya (Independent Democratic Union), Luz Poblete (Evópoli) and Francisco Chahuán (National Renovation). “We believe that today democracy has triumphed, the unity of Chile. In peace, Chilean men and women have gone to vote democratically and that is what we have to take care of so that tomorrow we can get to work on Chile’s true desire, which is to have a new and good constitution,” added Poblete. Macaya also made it clear that this It was not a triumph of the right but of the workers and “common sense”.
Thus, the Chilean right found a new opportunity that already this morning the former president Sebastian Pinera —who has practically not spoken since he left office in March— he pointed out as he went to vote. “We have a commitment to a new and good Constitution, and we are going to fulfill that commitment (…) let’s say things as they are, we have had too much time of divisions, confrontation, violence, insecurity, and what Chile needs is more peace , more unity, because only in this way will we be able to build everyone’s house” and even asked to leave “the culture of cancellation out and let us understand that in Chile we need a culture of greater friendship, of greater collaboration”.
Heat, mandatory vote and end of cycle
This Sunday was a particularly hot day for the Santiago winter —with temperatures reaching 27 degrees— where, despite the large influx of peopleIn general, the process was expedited because the voting precincts were relocated in relation to the voter’s home. Something that did not happen, for example, in the presidential elections last year, where there was an absence of public locomotion forcing many people to move on foot many times from one commune to another. Because it is the first time in a decade that voting is mandatory, there were also queues at police stations for people who had to justify their absence and avoid fines. Also it was the first time that people deprived of liberty were able to vote. 13 million people voted – out of 15 million eligible to vote.
A bit of context: this Sunday’s plebiscite was the main consequence of the “Agreement for Peace” in November 2019 promoted by Congress —among them by the current president Gabriel Boric himself— that Sebastián Piñera reluctantly accepted as a way to politically prosecute the “Social Outburst” started a month earlier. An uprising of proportions, which had a million people protesting in the center of Santiago (a phenomenon that was repeated in the rest of the country), the police shooting rubber bullets in the eyesmilitary troops circulating through the streets and cacerolazos every night, becoming the largest institutional crisis in the country since the return to democracy. A constituent process was proposed that would begin with an entry plebiscite, where the “I approve” option obtained almost 80% of the votes together with the joint constituent convention option and with reserved seats that would draft the new constitutional text, instead of a “mixed” one where representatives would participate both politicians and citizens.
The latter made it possible that in the elections of conventional constituents in May 2021 the citizen movements and the left under different conglomerates obtained la majority of the 155 seats, leaving the right with just 27 representatives and no veto power. There would begin, however, a rarefied environment where the right, in addition to not contributing much beyond criticizing the process, added certain chapters poorly evaluated by the public, such as the interruption of the national anthem on the first day of the convention —product of protests and conventions that tried to draw attention to the issue—, the discovery of a convention that led the protests (Rodrigo Vade) who lied about having cancer or days of several days to elect the new leaders of the second cycle of the convention. Aspects that can be understood as a product of inexperience and the unprecedented of the process, were also taken advantage of by the right to exalt the sensation of chaos and disorder, despite the fact that it was possible to have the text within the established period, just one year after it began, on July 4 of this year.
A new court line
The new constitutional text sought to leave behind the 1980 Constitution that, despite its modifications in democracy, it is impossible to separate it from Pinochet and Jaime Guzman —its main ideologue— that allowed the development of a neoliberal economy in charge of the “Chicago Boys”, economists from the Catholic University formed by characters like Milton Friedman who allowed state companies to be privatized, great incentives to extractive processes such as forestry in the south or the criticized model of the AFPs (Pension Fund Administrators) where the pension money is managed by new companies that invest abroad, without involving the people of the profits, but of those requested. Models that are still valid.
The New Constitution would transform this modelguaranteeing Chileans education, health and quality of life (which were not even mentioned in the 1980), in addition to having a gender approach (defining itself as a parity democracy), of valorization of native peoples by defining Chile as a “Plurinational and “Intercultural” State and the environment. also proposes changes in the political system like the end of the Senate and the Constitutional Court. Something that did not sit well with parties that initially supported the process, such as the Socialist Party, where many of its main actors are going to end their careers as senators, because after that, their support for “Approve” was rather lukewarm. On the other hand, the right-wing conservative sectors did not think very well that the new constitutional text will ensure the conditions for pregnancy, but also its voluntary interruption. An opportunity that the majority of Chileans with their vote left in suspense so that the Magna Carta of 1980 continues to govern.