After a year of work, the agency will deliver this Monday to the President, Gabriel Boric, the final version of the new Magna Carta, which will be submitted to a referendum in September without any signs of approval.
Chile’s Constitutional Convention, which came about in the heat of protests that shook the country in October 2019, ended its work this Monday, which has lasted a year. In a ceremony held at the Pereira Palace in the capital Santiago, the body handed over the final text to the president, Gabriel Boric, who must formally call a referendum on whether or not to approve the new Magna Carta, on 4 September. Boric, who won the elections in December last year, came to power with a promise to complete the reform process.
The document aims to replace the current document, which dates from 1980 and was drafted in the midst of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. However, the process that started as a turning point and a break with the past has lost steam over the months. At the moment, according to surveys, the text would not get enough support from the public.
It all started in Santiago in October 2019. What was initially a protest against the rise in the price of rail transport sparked a wave of protests, some violent, involving more than 1 million citizens. The social outbreak mainly required the implementation of social reforms. The demonstrations would culminate in the approval of a referendum on the need to draft a new constitution, following a political agreement within Congress. For example, since July 4, 2021, the Constitutional Convention, consisting of 155 people -78 men and 77 women-, has worked to shape the text. They finished their work this Monday.
The brand new document consists of 388 standards, divided into eleven chapters. However, there is no guarantee that it will eventually be approved in the referendum on September 4. A survey by Plaza Pública Candem indicates that 51% of Chileans are in the ‘no’ today, while only 34% would support it. The rest is undecided and those who affirm that they will not vote, despite the fact that the consultation will be mandatory, unlike any other electoral process -voting is voluntary in Chile-.
The new constitution aims to put an end to the dictatorial stage that took place between 1974 and 1990. In general, the initiative has been rejected by the political right and some of the center-left sectors — linked especially to the Concertación that ruled Chile between 1990 and 2010 — who believe the proposal poses a threat to democracy. Because the ‘yes’ are the ruling party of the president and those who support him. Left-wing and youth groups in particular are in favor of the text.
Among the main problems to be solved are human rights, the historical truth of the country, a basis for justice, comprehensive reparation and guarantees that the past will not repeat itself. However, it seems that the initial illusion has turned into apathy. Boric himself has on more than one occasion been concerned about the citizens’ dissatisfaction with this process, with which Chile wants to definitively close the dictatorial stage.
Source: La Verdad
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