The ultra-right prevails forcefully in the constituent elections of Chile

First modification: 05/08/2023 – 10:50

Chileans went to the polls this Sunday to choose who will draft the country’s new Constitution. For the most part, the ultra-right swept the elections, winning more than 35% of the votes.

Thus, the Republican Party took the lead. The bench led by the former presidential candidate, José Antonio Kast, has stated that it is in favor of maintaining the criticized Magna Carta dating from the 1980s, proclaimed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The far-right leader spoke out and said that “today is the first day of a better future, a new beginning for Chile” and that the country “has defeated a failed government.”

“We achieved an important goal, but it is not time to divide the country, but to work in unity for the good of Chile,” Kast added after knowing the results.

In second place, with close to 28% of the votes, was the Unidad Para Chile list, which includes the government parties, the Broad Front of President Gabriel Boric, the Communist Party and the Socialist Party.

The traditional right represented in Chile Seguro was in third place, keeping more than 21%. In this coalition are the parties UDI, Renovación Nacional (led by former president Sebastián Piñera) and Evópoli.

For its part, the center-left list Todo por Chile took only 9% of the votes and was one of the big losers of these votes.

The People’s Party, of the populist right, came last with just over 5%. Although he seemed to rebound in the polls, a drug trafficking case involving one of his candidates could have affected them.

According to estimates, the Republican Party could occupy 20 of the seats and would thus have the right of veto. In this sense, it is a change of political forces with respect to the previous process. In the Constitutional Assembly, in charge of the first text, the forces of the left could pass points without the need for the approval of the right.

This time, the ruling party will have an adverse scenario. Despite this, Boric recognized the results and encouraged dialogue.

“The previous process, we must say, failed because we did not know how to listen to each other among those who thought differently. I want to invite the Republican Party now not to make the same mistake that we made,” the president sentenced.

the second try

In Chile, polling stations closed at 6:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. GMT) in the country’s second attempt in two years to replace the current constitution.

The previous text drafted by the Constitutional Assembly, dominated by members of the left and independents, was rejected by 62% of the votes in a plebiscite on September 4, 2022.

Chile agreed to change its Constitution as a way to appease the social protests that emerged in October 2019 against social inequality.

Following the protests, the country has held seven elections. But this time, the failure of the previous process and the unprecedented security crisis that the country is going through explained, according to experts, the disaffection towards these new elections.

Boric, who was less involved in the current contest, voted in his native Punta Arenas (extreme south of Chile).

“As a country, we have a historic opportunity to reconcile, after the fractures we have experienced, and move towards a developed and inclusive country, where no one is left behind,” the president had assured.

“I trust the wisdom of the Chilean people and I hope that people vote informed, without fear,” added Boric.

The particularities of the new process

The great novelty of this second attempt to renew the Constitution is the participation of 24 experts appointed by Parliament, whose mission is to prepare a draft that will serve as a basis for the 50 councilors (25 men and 25 women), elected this Sunday at the polls. .

Another peculiarity is the existence of 12 basic principles agreed upon a priori by the parties to avoid a refounding proposal like the previous one, which include the declaration of Chile as a “social and democratic State of law”, the indivisibility of the “Chilean nation or the bicameral system.

In addition, the process has sought to have a greater capacity for citizen voices. For this, the Secretariat for Citizen Participation was established. An organism that seeks to fill the gaps of the past and the criticisms of civil society of having been ignored in the elaboration of the text.

With EFE, AP and Reuters