Independent and in favor of the proposed new Constitution establishing the creation of a single insurance that guarantees access to health. That trait and that position define María Elisa Quinteros (Constituent Social Movements) and Gaspar Domínguez (Non-Neutral Independent) the new president and vice president, respectively, of the Constitutional Convention.
And it is that the replacements of Elisa Loncon (Mapuche People) and Jaime Bassa (Broad Front) come from the world of health. Quinteros is a dentist and environmental epidemiologist, while Domínguez is a doctor. Both were elected after a marathon day that began on Tuesday morning and lasted until Wednesday afternoon -with a break between 4 in the morning until 3:00 p.m.- and that left several wounds in the alliance policy of the organ.
But the conformation of the new table did not get there. On Thursday afternoon, the Convention defined five of the seven new deputy vice presidents. So far, they are: Amaya Álvez (Broad Front), Lidia González (Yagán People), Tomás Laibe (Socialist Collective), Natividad Llanquileo (Mapuche People) and Bárbara Sepúlveda (Communist Party). Until press time, the conventional right and center right wing and those of the former People’s list, had not resolved who will be their assigned vice presidents. However, after submitting the 24 required signatures, they could be integrated two new names.
During the next three months, the Convention will enter its “second period”, a period where they will engage in the discussion of the chapters and articles that will be part of the proposed new Constitution. For this reason, the work of the new table will be key to harmonize and lead the phase that is coming.
According to the lawyer and academic of the Alberto Hurtado University, Thomas Jordan, the table, and especially the presidency and vice-presidency, they play a key role in ordering and moderating the debate on the Convention. “That will be central to what is coming, because here in politics bureaucratic power is always relevant because the table sets the agenda and the times. It can enable more or less political negotiation, ”explained Jordán.
Because of how critical the table will be over the next several months, a useful exercise is to examine how do the conventional that compose it think. To this end, the academic of the Research Center for Social Complexity (CICS) of the Development University, Jorge Fabrega, analyzed how they have voted in 912 votes, mainly those that were made during the discussion of the regulation.
From her analysis, it is deduced that the current president leans more to the left than the former president Loncon (Mapuche town). While, Domínguez (INN) it is closer to the political center than its predecessor.
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Third
Regarding the extended table, the study highlights that the deputy vice president Laibe (CS) is the one closest to the political center, followed by Domínguez (INN), while on the far left are the president Quinteros (MSC) and Llanquileo (Mapuche People).
As an example, one of the most controversial votes within the Convention was that of the two-thirds quorum. In that occasion, Álvez (RD), Domínguez (INN) and Laibe (PS) they voted in favor of maintaining it for the approval of the constitutional norms. While, González (Pueblo Yagán), Llanquileo (Pueblo Mapuche), Sepúlveda (PC) and President Quinteros (MSC) they voted against continuing with two-thirds.
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Third
Another example is the declaration aimed at “adopting institutional and democratic measures that allow justice and put an end to the various manifestations of violence”. In this vote, Llanquileo (Mapuche People) and President Quinteros (MSC) voted against it, while Sepúlveda (PC), Álvez (RD), Domínguez (INN) and Laibe (PS) approved the statement. González (Yagán Town), for his part, he abstained.
Despite the fact that the new table is led by independents, Fabrega diagnoses that the next six months of operation of the Convention will also could revolve around the agreements reached between the Broad Front and the Socialist Collective. However, he adds: “It is a fact that the CS and the FA lost quotas of power. Those who came to the table enjoy greater autonomy because they are not there with their votes. This is good for the development of the Convention, since now everyone has been informed that no one has foolproof control over the development of the agreements.”, He commented.
The main trends within the new table
During the unprecedented campaign of the candidates for the Convention, Third conducted a survey on the main constitutional discussions that the Convention could address. These responses were used to create the interactive tool “Constituent Match”, Which allowed readers to see which candidates they had the most ideological affinity with. Through these responses, it is possible to establish some trends within the table.
In fact, the creation of a single health insurance – recognized by the Constitution – was one of the positions of the new president and vice president who responded to that survey.
Although the seven elected representatives of the new table answered the query, their preferences regarding different subjects were sent before receiving public hearings, developing instances of popular participation and initiating the deliberative process of the norms Therefore, as a large part of the conventionalists has stated during the sessions, they are preliminary positions and that they have changed or could change.
One of the most debated issues, since even before the work of the Convention began, has been whether or not to continue with the current one. presidential system. In this sense, five of the current seven members they were in favor of meIn keeping with the basic presidential regime, but granting it more powers and appointing powers to Congress, in order to move towards an attenuated presidentialism. Meanwhile, the current president and Alvez (FA) stated that they are supporters of iEstablish a semi-presidential system.
Refering to Congress structure, Sepúlveda (PC), Álvez (FA) Laibe (PS) and Llanquileo (Mapuche People) matched the choice of a Cunicameral congress. On the other hand, Quinteros (CSC), Domínguez (INN) and González (Pueblo Yagán) they agreed that yese maintain the current bicameralism but leaving one of them for territorial representation and the other for political representation, something that has been called asymmetric bicameralism.
Facing the future of constitutional Court, Domínguez (INN), Sepúlveda (PC) and Llanquileo (Mapuche People) they agreed to eliminate the Constitutional Court (TC) and create a new body. On this same topic, the president Quinteros (MSC) and Vice Presidents Álvez (FA) and Laibe (CS) they agreed on “eLimit control of bills while they are being processed in Congress and reform the system for appointing ministers who are members of the TC”.
In relation to the future of the current unitary state, four of the seven conventional members of the table -Quinteros (MSC), Álvez (FA), Llanquileo (Pueblo Mapuche) and González (Pueblo Yagán) – they agreed that it must reform the current unitary state and move to a federal or regional state where there is a high degree of autonomy from regional and local governments. While, Domínguez (INN), Sepúlveda (PC) and Laibe (PS) they stated that “se must maintain the current unitary state but giving more powers to regional authorities”.
In addition, All the conventional ones agreed that the new Constitution should “incorporate mechanisms of direct democracy that complement representation, such as the popular initiative of law and plebiscites.”. There is also consensus regarding the use of water, since lThe seven argue that they would include it “in the Constitution, considering the access, protection and distribution of water resources as a fundamental right, a national asset for public use.”.