First modification:
The Chilean Senate approved this January 4 by a large majority the constitutional reform that enables the process to draft a new Constitution and that must now receive the approval of the Chamber of Deputies.
With the RFI correspondent in Santiago de Chile, Naïla Derroisné.
By 40 votes in favor, four against and two abstentions, the Chilean senators approved this Wednesday the constitutional reform that allows the drafting of a new Constitution. “All the actors who signed the commitment honored their word and that is very important because it shows the responsibility and seriousness with which this challenge is being addressed,” said the president of the Senate, the socialist Álvaro Elizalde.
Last September, the population rejected in a referendum a draft text prepared by a constituent assembly that could have replaced the current Constitution, drawn up under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Since then, the political parties have agreed on a new roadmap.
A tight schedule
The debates lasted only two days, a record time. This is because the Government had requested that the project be examined as a matter of priority, since parliamentarians had little time. According to the reform, the 50 members of the Council in charge of drafting the new Constitution will be elected at the beginning of May, and to organize these elections, time is needed, at least three months. So the reform must be ready by the end of January at the latest.
Now it is up to the deputies to decide, and they will have to act quickly to meet the already tight schedule. “I hope that this same constructive spirit (…) is also expressed in the processing of the Chamber (of Deputies),” said Álvaro Elizalde.
Despite some opposition, which considers that the reform is subject to too many conditions, it should be approved. And if the calendar is respected, next December Chileans will once again vote “for” or “against” the new Constitution.
