How the apathy and the strengthening of the conservatives mark the election of the Constitutional Council in Chile

Chili returns to the polls this Sunday to elect 50 members of the Constitutional Council that will finish adjusting the draft Constitution that will be drawn up by a commission of 24 experts appointed by the political parties.

This election takes place eight months after the citizens flatly rejected, with 62% of votes, the proposal for a new Constitution in the plebiscite on September 4.

LOOK: Elections Constitutional Council: Chile votes to redraft a new Magna Carta

The context of the elections this Sunday is far from the enthusiasm with which the previous process was carried out, which followed the social outbreak that began in 2019.

That time, among the great protagonists were the independent candidates, many of whom ended up securing a position in the Constituent Convention in charge of writing a new Magna Carta. Five lists compete in this Sunday’s vote: two from parties of the pro-government left and three from the opposition right, which is the favorite in the polls.

Regarding citizen interest in the process, today there is a radical change. According to a Criteria survey, in April only 31% of Chileans stated that they were interested in this new processcompared to 60% of those who supported the previous one.

People vote at the old Mapocho train station, now a cultural center. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix).

He Constitutional Council It is the body that will receive, for its review and adjustments, a text prepared by experts with 12 essential principles that cannot be modified.

One of those principles is that Chile is a market economy with state and private participation.

Other bases establish that Chile is a unitary State, that the country guarantees respect for rights such as life, property and equality before the law.

This council will begin to meet from June and will have to submit the draft of the new Constitution to be submitted to a ratification plebiscite on December 17.

The Constituent Council will have 50 members, 25 of them men and 25 women. In total, for this election there were 353 candidates spread across the country.

Almost all the candidates are linked to political parties: he Republican Party (far right) and the People’s Party (conservative populists). electoral coalitions All for Chile (center left), Chile Safe (right), Unit for Chile (close to President Gabriel Boric).

In addition, there was three independent candidates from three regions. Jorge Sepúlveda (La Araucanía), Liset Quilodrán (Aysén) and Claudio Barrientos (Magallanes).

Also two candidates from indigenous peoples, who could be elected with a special ballot if they gather 1.5% of the votes at the national level.

He Republican Party is led by José Antonio Kastthe presidential candidate who was defeated by Gabriel Boric in 2022. While The People’s Party is led by Franco Parisiwho came third in the presidential elections.

Voting is mandatory throughout the country, subject to a fine for those who cannot justify their absence.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric during a press conference after voting. (EFE). (Presidency of Chile/)

This Sunday is the seventh election in which Chileans have participated since the social outbreak of 2019.

In addition, it is the second time that the constitutional drafters have been elected, the first was in 2021.

Many analysts and politicians believe that the election is also a virtual referendum on the president’s management gabriel boricwhose disapproval is around 70%, according to polls.

But why apathy marks the current process?

Francisco Covarrubias, dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts of the Adolfo Ibáñez University (UAI), told Trade that although the previous process generated a lot of expectations, it ended in a quite dramatic way, with an almost unprecedented rejection. “There are only two African countries where proposals for new constitutions were rejected. The rejection in Chile was the product of a Constitution that was proposed on the brink of delirium, absolutely partisan, very left. Today a second opportunity opens, but the concerns of the people have changed, now there is a much clearer orientation to the current problems of the country, and where constitutional hope has fallen sharply as a priority for the people “Explain.

As for the weight that the ultra-conservative right would have in the Constitutional Council, Covarrubias states that three types of right coexist in Chile: the traditional, the center-right that was the protagonist in the last 30 years and that basically moved away from Pinochetism and was the Government with Piñera. The right that is currently on the rise, which is the ultra-conservative represented in the Republican Party, which is a split from what was the traditional right. And the third right, which is populist, and which is expressed in the People’s Party.

“Now all eyes are going to be on what each of these rights gets. One of the expectations that exists regarding the results is that the hardest right can generate a sorpasso (get more votes) to the traditional right, in which case it would be a cataclysm for that sector”, emphasizes Covarrubias.

“At night we are going to find out if it is impossible for a new Constitution to be generated with the elected councilors. If that happens, it will be because the extremes have obtained a very good vote, both the Communist Party and the ultra-conservative right. So what is going to happen is that we are almost certainly going to realize that it is impossible for this to come to fruition. If the more moderate sectors leave, then it is possible that a good port will be reached, ”he adds.

Francisco Covarrubias believes that this Sunday’s process It is also a kind of plebiscite on the management of President Boricas happened in the previous election.

“President Boric is playing a lot. In the previous process, the Government gambled in favor of Approval and received a great blow. There are people who have tried to delegitimize that victory by saying that fake news was used, that deep down people were deceived, etc., but an election now whose result is not so different from that of the plebiscite would reveal a trend that would be completely against what the Government represents, in which case that would generate a very complex situation for the Executive, which would be left in a no man’s land about what to do. This despite the fact that the government moderated. How sustainable will that moderation be going forward? That is what we are going to see after the results”.

Finally, Covarrubias maintains that the Constitutional Council The one chosen will have a limited margin to thoroughly reform the proposal of the commission of experts. “I want to make it clear that Chileans are not available for refoundational experiments, that finally the points that were agreed and that the experts are carrying out is nothing more than putting into practice what the citizens defined at the polls. Here modifications can be discussed, but not invent a new country, as was intended with the previous project”.

Source: Elcomercio