Chile’s Constituent Convention approves its regulations to advance the new Constitution

The Constituent Convention of Chile, which will draft a new constitution to replace the one inherited from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, approved its general regulations on Thursday, and will now work on the content of the new Constitution.

Ninety-five days after the inauguration of the Constituent Convention, its 155 members -17 of them representatives of native peoples- managed to conclude the vote on the general regulations, “A fundamental stage within the work and work of the Constitutional Convention”, said its president Elisa Loncon.

The constituents approved the holding of plebiscites when the members of the Convention do not reach the two-thirds agreement established in the constitutional body to approve articles of the new text.

The regulations will also regulate the internal functioning of the Convention, the rules on popular participation, ethics and consultation with indigenous peoples.

“Now it really begins, the political, social, cultural, construction, configuration process of a new Constitution,” said Jaime Bassa, vice president of the instance.

Next week the constituents will begin work in each of the regions they represent, for which Loncon asked the Interior Ministry to ensure the protection of their colleagues.

“After the territorial week we will return to work on the contents of the new Constitution on Monday, October 18,” announced Bassa.

The 155 constituents have a term of nine months, extendable for another three, to draft a new Constitution to replace the current one, inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990), indicated during the social protests unleashed in 2019 as the origin of the inequality in the country.

The Convention was convened after an agreement between the conservative government of Sebastián Piñera and a range of parties to give an institutional channel to the desire for changes expressed in the protests.

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