The new Constitution of Chile, between disinformation and growing rejection

There are 33 days left until the constituent plebiscite of 4 September in Chile, where citizens will have to decide whether to approve or reject the proposed text of the new Constitution, after a year of work carried out by the Constitutional Convention.

The latest Cadem poll, this Sunday, resulted in an advantage of 10 points of intention to vote Rejection on Approval, respectively with 48% and 38% of preferences.

Elections are marked by the disinformation and endless legal interpretations of the rules that made it difficult for citizens to follow the debate.

In that context, the government has decided to launch a communication campaign called “Chile Vota Informado”, which provides for the distribution of over 900,000 copies of the constitutional proposal.

However, the opposition accuses the government of using the distribution of texts to campaign for the I approve option.

The position of the government

Since March, Gabriel Boric’s government has established a clear position in which it anchored the success of its management to the approval of the text, a correlation that has become symbiotic. In fact, the same opinion polls show that as the president’s approval increases, so does the I approve option, and vice versa.

To understand why there is a stir in Chile that the government can express its opinion, it should be noted that in this country there is a principle as old as the republic: that of food storage.

Under this principle, no official can use public resources or their working hours to favor an electoral option. To be clearer, there has already been major controversy in Chile about events that would not be the case in another country, such as a minister attending an election event in a ministry vehicle, even when he is outside his working hours. .

For each electoral process, the Office of the Controller General of the Republic gives instructions to officials and institutions on the extent of the pre-emption. It is these instructions that, in the opinion of the opposition, would be violated on the pretext of delivering copies of the deed.

Claim of opposition

From the conservative Independent Democratic Union, its president, Senator Javier Macaya, asked the government to hand over several hundred thousand of the 900,000 copies it had ordered to print so that they could be distributed by them, as another state power ( senators, opposition deputies). However, there was no response.

Thus, last week – and for the first time in the country’s democratic history – the Controller’s Office inspected the Palacio de La Moneda on the ground for a Accusation of electoral intervention. Although the findings of the appraisals may come after the plebiscite, the level of executive involvement in the approval cause is under discussion on radio and television programs.

President B’s plan

Gabriel Boric, aware of the difficulties his leadership would encounter if he won the Rejection, took several steps to order his ranks and vote against the “more difficult” text. The president has already indicated that if he wins this option, he will launch a new convention, underlining the weariness of citizens on the issue. A strategy that, although it initially messed up the opposition, lost its effects as the days went by.

Studies in the Palacio de La Moneda indicate the same as those of the bunkers: the election will be defined by the moderateswho disagree with the proposed text or the current constitution.

Thus, if the Rejection proposes to restart the process to make “a better one”, the young Chilean president has publicly summoned his supporters to agree. a battery of reforms to the proposal, so that the moderates see in the approval the certainty that the text will be improved.

However, the campaign is already entering its final phase. On Sunday the electoral band will be released, the television space guaranteed by the Chilean legislation to publish political spots of the options. At the same time, the teams are deployed throughout the national territory to improve territorial coverage.

While the approval focuses on the regions, where it performs better, the rejection seeks to neutralize its competitor in the metropolitan region, the stronghold that gave Boric his sweeping election victory.

Santiago, special

CB