Chile to vote on conservative constitutional proposal
Dec. 15, 2023
Chileans will plebiscite a constitutional proposal drafted by an elected, conservative led council on Sunday. It will be the second time in two years the country has voted on a proposal to replace the current, dictatorship-era magna carta, an initiative born of massive social protests in 2019.
The current proposal is actually more conservative than the one it hopes to replace, according to critics who say the new charter does nothing to address the social discontent — related to health, education and social security — that fueled the agreement to draft a new constitution for Chile.
Indeed, the conservative right which has always advocated in favor of the Pinochet constitution is advocating for approval, while leftist sectors that have long lobbied for a rewrite are advocating votes against the proposed documents. It is a text drafted by people who “never wanted to change the constitution in the first place”, Claudia Heiss, a political scientist at the University of Chile, told the Guardian.
Polls indicate that the new charter will be rejected by voters, with the caveat that the number of people who say they would vote in favor has been increasing. Cadem’s last numbers showed that 38% would approve the new constitution, up six points from mid-November, while those against fell three points to 46%. The latest AtlasIntel poll puts votes in favor at 48.4%, with 7.6% undecided.
About 15.4 million Chileans are legally obligated to vote, the third election since mandatory suffrage was implemented. This make the results more uncertain.
“Most Chileans prefer a modernized charter that addresses the public policy issues that are not getting resolved—namely, a text that does not throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. This is why a Magna Carta that enshrines either ideological extreme has only minority appeal,” writes Arturo C. Porzecanski in Americas Quarterly.
The leftist Boric administration unofficially supports the “no” vote on Sunday. However, the arrest on Thursday of a man in relation to an attempted kidnapping, could alter the equation. The man, Luis Castillo, was pardoned by Boric a year ago for crimes related to the 2019 protests. The pardons have been controversial, and the episode puts public security, a key concern for most Chileans, in the spotlight. Advocates of the proposed constitution say it advocates for security.
The new document was drafted by the party of far-right leader José Antonio Kast, who lost to Boric in the 2020 presidential election. If it passes, it will severely undermine Boric’s political agenda for the remainder of his mandate, according to some analysts, and strengthen Kast’s political fortunes.
A progressive proposal drafted by an elected constitutional convention was rejected last year. If this one fails, Boric has said he will not pursue another rewrite, but could try to introduce amendments to the existing constitution.
El País, El País, Reuters, Guardian, Perfil)
More Constitution
The draft constitution makes no explicit mention of abortion, but it states that the “law protects the life of who will be born,” rather than the current “the life that will be born.” Feminists say the phrase seeks to grant more entity to the embryo, further complicating efforts to terminate pregnancies. (Infobae)
Another article flagged by critics would allow the president to detain people in their homes or non-official sites under a state of siege. (Infobae)
The draft generally reflects the Council’s conservative majority, writes Richard Sanders for the Wilson Center. “One provision, for example, calls for the deportation of undocumented immigrants “as soon as possible.” It also adopts conservative priorities for the country’s pension, health, and education systems, seemingly enshrining the privatized pension system and the mixed public and private health system, and giving parents a choice between public and private schools.”
The proposed text “reflects the interests of a single political sector, repeating the same errors of the previous process. According to experts, it has serious technical deficiencies and could lead to a high risk of contention,” warns Michelle Bachelet in El País, calling for a vote against.
Chile
“As the nation prepares for its second constitutional referendum in as many years, voter discontent is so deep-seated that it’s proving a governance challenge,” reports Bloomberg.
Histories
Chile will always be the Achilles’ Heel of Henry Kissinger’s legacy, argues Peter Kornbluh in Progressive Magazine. “That is because the voluminous historical record—formerly classified memoranda, meeting summaries, and telephone transcripts that capture Kissinger’s own words, arguments, and policies for posterity—leaves no doubt that he was the architect of U.S. efforts to destabilize Chilean democracy and the enabler-in-chief of the barbaric military regime led by General Augusto Pinochet.