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A key stage is the one that will begin to register as of this Tuesday in the Constitutional Convention. According to the schedule of the drafting body, at 3:00 p.m. The plenary session will begin with the debates and votes in general on the first proposals for regulations in order to begin to shape what will be the draft of the new Constitution.
After the closure of the process of receiving popular initiatives for regulations and conventional initiatives, on January 20 and February 1, respectively, and after finishing with the discussions in each thematic commission, the hemicycle -20 weeks from the established date, In the beginning, to have the proposal for a new Magna Carta fully ready, it will have to deliberate on the norms that were previously approved in each commission.
This week the first articles to be voted on in plenary correspond to those that were endorsed by the commissions of Justice System and Form of State, so it is expected that Vanessa Hoppe and Christian Viera -coordinators- will be the first to arrive at the instance to present. The first vote in general, which corresponds to the report of the Justice Systems Commission, is expected to begin after 11:00 p.m.
In that sense, 21 plenary sessions will be held to meet all commissions up to the deadline for this stage, April 22.
But what is the formula for debate and voting in plenary? The vice president of the instance, Gaspar Domínguez, detailed this Monday that the plenary sessions will deliberate, according to schedule, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, while on Fridays they will start in the morning until complete dispatch. In addition, the commissions will work from Tuesday to Thursday in the morning.
The plenary sessions will begin with a presentation of the report -15 minutes- and then a stage of maximum 8 hours will be given so that each constituent -3 minutes by convention-, if they so wish, can give their opinion and present their position regarding the report in general.
In the case of deliberations in general, if the vote reaches a quorum of 2/3, that is, 103 votes -out of 154- or more, the report with the norms goes to the vote in particular, which will be discussed in another plenary session. On the contrary, if it does not obtain the necessary approval, it will return to the corresponding commission.
As for the voting in particularafter the presentation and the debate space of a maximum of 8 hours, the voting begins item by item. In case you get more than 2/3 the article is approved and would go directly to the group of approved standards. If you get an amount of votes that is majority, but does not reach 2/3, the article returns to the commission to receive instructionsmodifications and forward it to the plenary.
Unlike the instance in general, in the vote in particular it may happen that few votes are obtained, in this scenario the norm is extinguished and has no possibility of returning to the plenary.
“Very intense weeks are ahead of us and, finally, as a result of months and months of work, we are going to give life to a proposal for a new constitution for the peoples of Chile”said the president of the Convention this Monday, María Elisa Quinteros.
Pre-voting in general
This new stage, crucial for the organization, takes place a week after the board of directors -Monday, February 8- led a meeting, to which representatives of all the groups that are part of the process were summoned to evaluate the schedule, the situation of the commissions, raise the need to reach agreements and meet the deadlines.
Taking into account the number of initiatives that must be discussed and voted on, doubts began to arise within the chamber regarding the time left -until July 4- to conclude with the drafting of the text. Some constituents have even called for the possibility of extending the established term.
In that sense, Dominguez expressedon Cooperativa radio, that “we have to make all existing effortshad and for have, to meet deadlines that are already established”, emphasizing that “the time we estimate is 12 monthswhich is the one that has been established from the beginning, and our schedule that has been made and approved, settled and sacramented several months ago it also incorporates the maximum date, the 4th of July”.
But also, despite the fact that on Friday of last week it was decided -unanimously- that the norms must be approved in general by a quorum of 2/3, a letter signed by 50 conventionals was submitted requesting that the resolution be evaluated.
The situation triggered the president to summon the conventional members of the board of directors to an extraordinary meeting, which was held this Monday. Specific, Gaspar Dominguez (INN) and the deputy vice-presidencies of Thomas Laibe (CS), Barbara Sepulveda (Worthy Chile), Raul Celis (Let’s go to Chile), Amaya Alvez (FA) Lydia Gonzalez (Yagan People) and Llanquileo Nativity (Mapuche People) participated in the meeting.
However, the table made the decision -by 5 votes in favor and 3 against- not to reevaluate the quorum for the voting of norms in general in plenary session. In detail, the conventional Sepúlveda, Llanquileo and the president of the drafting body gave their vote in favor, while Domínguez, Laibe, Celis, Alvez and González rejected the official letter.
With 5 votes against: Convention table rejects modifying quorum of 2/3 to approve norms in general
The Fundamental Rights Commission approves in particular its first article
At 9:30 a.m., the 38th session of the Fundamental Rights Commission. On that occasion, the constituents voted in particular for the initiatives of Thematic Block No. 1, which are related to ownership, purpose and financing of fundamental rights.
Nearly an hour after the beginning of the session, the commission approved in particular with 24 votes in favor and 8 rejections -among them Felipe Harboe, Rocío Cantuarias and Teresa Marinovic- the first article “Fundamental rights are necessary attributes to develop a dignified and democratic life, in a context of protection of nature.”
As detailed, the object and purpose of this article indicates that “Fundamental rights are universal, inalienable, indivisible and mutually interdependent. They understand the rights of nature, a reality intimately linked to the development of life, communities, nations and peoples as well as future generations”.
“The protection, promotion and satisfaction of human rights is a primary goal of the State and society. The full exercise of these rights is a necessary condition to ensure peace, democracy, a dignified life and the full development of individuals and peoples.”they close.