In fact, they didn’t want a new constitution at all. The right-wing extremists in Chile had repeatedly spoken out against the process, which began in 2022 and was intended to bring the country a new state treaty. Now they of all people will write this contract.
The far-right party Partido Republicano won the vote on the new Constitutional Council on Sunday. They got almost 35.5 percent of the votes in the body that is supposed to draw up a new Basic Law – and will thus occupy 22 of the 51 seats in the future. The party alliance of left-wing President Gabriel Boric only came second with 28.6 percent.
The first draft was too progressive for many
It is already the second attempt for a new basic law: Chile’s voters rejected the first draft last September with a clear majority of 62 percent. For many, the document drafted at the time was too progressive, say experts.
The convention, which then had 154 members, had more women than men, more leftists than rightists, and many indigenous people. The result looked appropriate: the new constitution was supposed to guarantee, among other things, equal rights for women, more environmental protection and self-government for the indigenous population.
Now the signs have reversed. The new 51-strong body consists of 35 men, including only one indigenous representative, and 16 women. 33 seats go to right-wing parties. It is the counter-proposal to the first constitutional convention.
The mood in the country has changed – and the Republicans took advantage of it immediately. They campaigned with freedom: for individuals and for companies. The state should have little opportunity to intervene. The right-wing extremist party also supports the previous constitution from 1980, which dates from the time of Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship.
Some members of the “Partido Republicano” – including the party founder and former presidential candidate José Antonio Kast – revere the legacy of the dictator – especially the economic one. Chile’s neoliberal system, which is cemented in the current constitution, is supposed to continue to exist under them. It would be the end of left-wing President Gabriel Boric’s plan to turn Chile into a welfare state based on the European model.
An important topic: security
In addition, national security is to play a major role in the vision of the right in a new constitution. According to the Republicans, Chile should already commit itself to protecting the population from terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking in the first article.
The party is reacting to moods in society. Violent crime in the country has recently increased. According to a study, crime and security are the issues that haunt Chileans more than anything else. Two years earlier, poverty and social inequality were number one. It was the time when the country was working on the first draft of a new constitution.
Today is the first day of a brighter future for our country.
Jose Antonio Kastleader of the Republicans
Since she rejected the first draft of the constitution, there has been little confidence in the process among the Chilean people. According to recent surveys, 70 percent had little or no interest in this second attempt. In the mandatory election on Sunday, 21 percent of voters cast an invalid or blank ballot.
Republican Kast triumphed Sunday night: “Today is the first day of a brighter future for our country,” he said. “Chile has defeated a failed government.” President Boric tried to appear optimistic in his speech after the election results and appealed to the right-wing forces. “One of the reasons why the first trial failed was that we didn’t know how to listen to those who thought differently. I want to urge the Republican Party not to make the same mistake we made.”
At the end of the year, the population will vote on this new, second draft of the constitution. Those who wanted a new constitution in 2020 are unlikely to find themselves in it. Social protests initiated the process in 2019. At that time, the demonstrators primarily denounced the neoliberal economic system and the great social inequality in the country. But this euphoria is over.
