Chile will hold the last votes of its constitutional change process

Almost three years after the social outbreak of 2019, Chile will hold this September 4 the last of the three votes for the plebiscite of its constitutional change process.

The text, which would mark the beginning of fundamental changes in the country, describes Chile in its first article as a “social and democratic State”, as well as “plurinational, intercultural and ecological”.

In recent days, the government of progressive President Gabriel Boric has assumed a more active role in defending the proposal, which prompted the Comptroller’s Office to announce that it will investigate alleged electoral interventionism, mainly regarding an information campaign by the Ministry of the General Secretariat of the Government. , led by spokeswoman Camila Vallejo.

Faced with this announcement, President Boric reacted and said that the “Comptroller’s Office has to make its plan to supervise and we must comply with the mandate that the Comptroller’s Law gives us, therefore, that the institutions function and that one supervise the other and are available to collaborate is something that seems desirable to me”.

Over the weekend, the private firm Cadem said rejection rose just one point to 48% of the vote and approval lost one point to drop to 38% of the vote. President Boric maintains that the only effort of his government has been focused on informing the public.

“What we have done to distribute the project copy of the new Constitution is precisely to inform. I have said and you know that both options are legitimate and the people have to decide,” said the president.

In recent days, in addition, former socialist president Michelle Bachelet, who is ending her term as head of the UN human rights office, has backed the constitutional proposal.

Political analyst Cristóbal Bellolio said that at this point in the process it has been shown that the intention to vote for the I approve option is linked to support for the government itself, which fell drastically in the first months after taking office in March, but has been recovering.

“The government is already gambling completely for trying to increase its popularity in these weeks,” said Bellolio, listing recent social announcements such as direct family income or expansion of access to public health, in an attempt to overcome a previously unfavorable scenario. .

On the horizon, there are also some plans in the event that the option to reject wins. the proposal that seeks to replace the constitution inherited from the military dictatorship.

An initiative is advancing in Congress to lower the demanding majorities required to reform the current constitution, while on the other hand the government itself has recognized that there are aspects of the proposal that could eventually be changed, although it has not committed to any specific change.

On Wednesday, July 6, the campaign for the plebiscite on the proposal for the new Chilean Constitution officially began. For their part, Chileans have a month to study and debate the 388 articles contained in the draft of the country’s new Constitution before going to the polls.

Since the municipal elections of October 2012, voting in the country has been voluntary, however, for the Plebiscite on September 4 it will be mandatory. This means that more than 15 million eligible voters in the definitive register must go to the polls.

[Contiene información de Reuters]

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