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Pepper heads once again to evaluate his draft new Constitution. The Constitutional Council, dominated by the right, concluded on Wednesday, the 4th, the preparation of the second Magna Carta project, after the first was rejected a year ago, when the aforementioned body had a progressive majority. The doubts are the same as then: will the new text be approved?
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Since July, the council has drafted a fundamental bill based on a text prepared by experts chosen by Parliament. From October 7th, a Committee of Experts will have five days to propose changes to the proposal. Observations may be rejected by two-thirds or approved by three-fifths of the councilors.
What remains of the road to approval of the new Constitution, which will be submitted to a plebiscite on December 17, is expected to be thorny. The latest polls indicate that the text’s detractors are increasing and that the majority of Chileans are inclined to vote against it.
As happened a year ago, several of the provisions included in the proposal were criticized by various sectors, mainly by the left-wing party in power.
Among the articles that generate the most controversy is the “right to life of the unborn child”, as it may conflict with the law that allows abortion in certain circumstances. Also the immediate expulsion of migrants who enter through unauthorized passages and tax exemption for first residence.
Added to the controversy is the law that reduces the number of deputies from 155 to 138, the rejection of gender parity in Congress and the conditioning of the right to strike to collective bargaining.
The possibility of the second proposal for Constitution being rejected is latent. The president of the Communist Party, Lautaro Carmona, stated that the proposal is a “monstrosity” and that it is the “deepening of neoliberal capitalism”.
Jaime Quintana, president of the ruling Party for Democracy, recalled that “for more than a week we have insisted on the need for a broad agreement to avoid a new failure of the constitutional process”.
Meanwhile, six political parties from the center-left, center-right and right appointed a technical committee to reach agreement on a project that would allow them to launch a common campaign in favor of the text.
Arturo Squella, president of the more radical right-wing Republican Party, warned that there are points on which they will not compromise, including the amendment that indicates that the law protects the lives of unborn children.
Although the ruling party said it was not giving up hope, it acknowledged that, as the text stands today, it would not approve it.
Jaime Baeza, an academic at the Institute of Public Relations at the University of Chile, considers that approval of the new proposal is quite difficult. As happened the first time, the polls give an even more overwhelming majority to the idea of rejecting the text, basically because for an important sector of the population the practices of the last Convention are repeated.
“For the majority of the population, the phenomenon repeats itself again, but with different elements. Of course, there is a possibility that the text will be approved, but given the current conditions it seems very difficult for this to happen.”he tells El Comercio.
When talking about the lack of consensus in the Magna Carta, Baeza emphasizes that the number of issues on which there are important disagreements is not less and may continue to increase.
In this scenario, the debate to come is likely to be very complicated. After passing through the Committee of Experts, the Magna Carta proposal will be evaluated again and it is at this level that obstacles are expected.
“There is not much incentive for Republicans to change their position and they have enough numbers to generate a veto. In this sense, they have behaved in a very ideological way and I don’t see why they should stop being that way, partly because they have a mandate that they have won and secondly because they are not really interested in doing anything other than what they are doing . they are already doing it and, in “The worst case scenario is that they have the current Constitution, which they have always defended”.explains Baeza.
He adds that, in addition to the political class that participates in the debate, there is boredom and even lack of interest among citizens in relation to the constitutional issue.
“This will be seen more as the weeks go by and as the December plebiscite approaches. The atmosphere is not necessarily tense among the political elite, but there is a feeling of boredom. Now, it is also important to wait for the final text, there will probably be a lot of debate. “He didn’t foresee an easy discussion.”says Baeza.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
