Politics

Chile rejects conservative constitution in referendum

(Update 1: Adds results, details, changes head and lede)

Santiago, Dec 17 (EFE).- For the second time in just over a year, Chileans have rejected a proposal for a new constitution and have kept the one inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, pausing the constitutional debate initiated after the large protests of 2019.

With more than 99.65 percent of the votes counted, 55.76 percent of voters rejected Sunday’s conservative proposal prepared by a body led by the extreme right and the traditional right, compared to 44.24 percent who approved it.

Rejection of the text, which toughened the treatment of irregular migration and opened the door to reviewing the abortion law, took place in the majority of the country’s 16 regions, especially in the capital, the central city of Valparaíso and the northern regions of Atacama and Antofagasta, where there was almost 20 points difference.

The result, predicted by all the polls, was a setback for the far-right Republican Party, which had a fundamental weight in the drafting of the new text and aspired to become the hegemonic force of the right.

“A large majority of Chileans have rejected the constitutional proposal that we promoted. We recognize that defeat very clearly. We failed in the effort to convince Chileans that this was a better constitution than the current one,” said the Republican leader and former presidential candidate, Jose Antonio Kast.

While the traditional right and the far right defended that the proposal addressed the problem of insecurity and put an end to the institutional uncertainty that generated protests four years ago, the left claimed that the text was “dogmatic” and delved into the neoliberal model implemented during the military regime.

This second attempt for a new Magna Carta in just 15 months began in September last year, when a resounding majority rejected in another referendum a project written by a leftist majority convention that proposed a profound change in the country’s model.

“This result is a sign that the first (constitutional) convention was clearly further to the left than the electorate and the second (the Constitutional Council) was further to the right. The electorate is more moderate and has said that it wants dialogue and common minimums, instead of maximalist proposals,” Claudia Heiss, head of political science at the University of Chile, told EFE.

Far from the liveliness of last year, this second process was marked by apathy and electoral fatigue, as it was the fifth constitutional vote since 2020.

“The result can also finally be interpreted as a rejection of the entire political class as a whole, which could lead to the emergence of populist figures much more radical than what we have seen so far,” said Rodrigo Espinoza from Diego Portales University in Santiago.

The right tried to turn Sunday’s vote into a referendum on the management of the government which, unlike the previous process, did not campaign in favor of any option and tried to remain neutral.

The leftwing parties that make up the ruling coalition did campaign against the proposal and celebrated the results, but it was a bittersweet victory because they have spent three decades questioning and reforming the constitution promulgated in 1981 by the military regime, which they have not been able to replace.

Both the left and the right have rejected promoting a third constituent process, as well as any major change to the current constitution, reformed dozens of times in democracy. A possible new reform would require the approval of at least four-sevenths of parliament.

“I prefer something bad than something terrible,” summarized former socialist president Michelle Bachelet after casting her vote Sunday.

The result “gives some air to President Boric,” but it should not be understood as a boost to his management, but rather it is a “vote of boredom,” Rodrigo Pérez de Arce, from the Institute of Social Studies, told EFE.

Although the latest polls published more than two weeks ago anticipated the rejection of the text, there were questions over the potential impact of a corruption case that in recent days has gained momentum with the arrest of two people linked to one of the ruling coalition parties that has put housing minister Carlos Montes on the line.

In a speech on national radio and television, the president acknowledged that “politics has remained indebted to the people of Chile” because he was unable to draft a constitutional proposal of consensus and said that citizens ask for “greater capacity for dialogue, consensus.”

“The result of this referendum, more than a celebration, is a strong wake-up call. If whoever obtains the circumstantial majority tries to deny the existence of the other, we will never advance in matters that cannot continue to wait,” warned the Chilean head of state. EFE

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