After last year’s failure, Chile is preparing to draft a new constitution

Chile started on Wednesday a new process to replace the Constitution drafted during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). It is the third attempt in five years to leave behind one of the main legacies of that period whose wounds are still open.

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday with a large majority and as a last step the Constitutional reform which allows the process to draw up a new Magna Carta throughout the year.

With 109 votes in favour, 37 against and 2 abstentions, the deputies approved the reform to applause, which establishes that the new body that will elaborate the proposal for a fundamental law will be composed of 50 elected by the citizens and will have the support of a committee of experts nominated by Congress.

The no votes came mainly from MPs from the far-right Republican Party and the Liberal People’s Party, who did not participate in last year’s negotiations.

This law makes it possible to start a new constituent process, after 61% of the electorate on 4 September rejected a project prepared by a convention that had been elected 100% by the citizens’ vote.

That rejection was a severe blow to Gabriel Boric’s government six months after taking office, as the president was a staunch defender of the new constitutional text, although he admitted that many of its articles were controversial or could lead to rejection.

After this process “the main political forces agreed on the idea that it is necessary to find a new Constitution, which is not the constitutional convention, but that we need a different one from the one of 1980”, explained the lawyer Claudia to AFP Sarmiento .

The attempt to change the Constitution promulgated by Pinochet and to which it was subjected dozens of reforms since the return to democracy, it has had a decisive boost after the violent protests that erupted on 18 October 2019.

differences

The new attempt at reform is very different from the previous one, mixing elected and designated bodies. She also marks a difference from the failed attempt made by socialist Michelle Bachelet during her second term (2014-2018), through self-convened councils.

“It’s a mixed process; very atypical as a general rule, because it mixes what is an elected body, with designated bodies. Here we have an atypical model that is not replicated in other parts of the world but which responds to the political needs and current situation of Chile,” says constitutional lawyer Tomás Jordán.

Unlike the previous attempt, where the draft was drafted by a convention of 154 members elected by popular vote and with indigenous reserved quotas, this new bet has three bodies; one of them elected by popular vote.

Next steps

On May 7, Chileans will elect a 50-member Constitutional Council. But there will also be two congressional-appointed bodies, whose composition has been questioned by critics of this project.

The Commission of Experts will draw up a draft which will be discussed in the elected body and in the Technical Admissibility Committee which will ensure that the articles do not contravene the so-called “Fundamental Bases”.

The election of members of the Constitutional Council this time will not count with lists of independents. In the meantime, the composition of the three bodies will be the same.

For the approval of the regulation and the statute, the favorable vote of three-fifths of the directors and not of two-thirds of the previous process will be required.

“This quite reasonable figure is reached, which generates certain guarantees from a legal and political point of view, guarantees for the participation of the National Congress, which will have the mission of electing the Committee of Experts,” said Sebastián Zárate, professor of the University Autonomous.

The process should end in December with a plebiscite for ratification.

The most substantial difference are the 12 “Fundamental Bases”, immutable and which must be included in the new Magna Carta, established before the process begins: thus Chile is a “democratic republic” with a “unitary and decentralized” character.

Indigenous peoples are recognized “as part of the Chilean nation, which is one and indivisible,” which prevents Chile from being declared a “plurinational” state, as the rejected bill did.

It also establishes the national emblems (flag, shield and anthem) and the existence of three distinct powers: Executive, Judicial and Legislative, with a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. In the rejected proposal, “Justice Systems” were established and the Senate was replaced by a “Chamber of Regions”.

It also determines the autonomy of the Central Bank and the Comptroller General, among other institutions.

Source: AFP

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