SANTIAGO, Chile – In the streets of Santiago, there is hardly any other topic being discussed: approving or rejecting the constitution that was drafted for almost a year by the Constitutional Convention. Promoters of both options hold street events, knock on doors and hand out flyers at the exits of major subway stations.
The issue has further polarized Chilean society, as some consider that the new Magna Carta will bring too radical changes, while others consider that the change is necessary to end the legacy of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
All the polls coincide in placing the “rejection” option at the forefront of the intention to vote for September 4, with percentages that reach 56% and a distance from “approval” of between 4 and 12 points, in a plebiscite that has place three years after the biggest social protests in decades broke out in the country.
But the polls also show a large percentage of undecided (from 10 to 15%), and in the streets there is a marked citizen mobilization in favor of “approving” the text written by a Constituent Convention elected by popular vote, with gender parity and seats reserved for indigenous people.
To be enacted, the constitutional proposal will be submitted to a mandatory plebiscite. This is what we know about this process.
When will the new Chilean constitution be voted on?
The exit plebiscite will take place on Sunday , September 4 , in accordance with the 4th of July.
“The electorate will have an electoral card that will contain the following question: ‘Do you approve the text of the New Constitution proposed by the Constitutional Convention?’ Under the question posed there will be two horizontal lines, one next to the other. The first of them will have in its lower part the expression ‘I approve’ and the second, the word ‘Reject’, so that the voter can mark their preference over one of the alternatives”, the document states.
Participation in this consultation will be mandatory for those who have electoral domicile in Chile, in accordance with article 142 of the current constitution. This includes more than 15 million voters The voter who does not vote will be penalized with a fine for municipal benefit of 0.5 to 3 monthly tax units, indicates the Electoral Service of Chile (Servel).
Main changes
The advance of the “rejection” of the new constitutional text is fundamentally due to “problems in certain contents” about the organization of the State, and not so much because of the catalog of rights that it establishes, “in which there is coincidence that there is a leap forward” Marcelo Mella, a political scientist at the University of Santiago, tells the AFP agency.
The new Constitution seeks to modify the current reduced state, which prioritizes private investment, for a welfare state, with a broader battery of fundamental rights.
Among the most controversial proposals are “plurinationality”, or recognition of different indigenous nations and original peoples; the establishment of a Justice Council instead of the Judiciary, with a special indigenous justice system; and the right to abortion.
For Rodrigo Espinoza, an academic at Diego Portales University, if the new Constitution is approved in Chile, “it will set the guidelines for constitutionalism at a global level, at least in the West.”
“There are several experts and personalities from the political world who are looking at the Chilean constituent process not necessarily with fear of what might happen here, but also to see how fundamental issues in the climate crisis and the energy crisis are going to be addressed,” he said in a statement. Interview with the AFP agency.
How to download the draft of the Chilean constitution
The proposal for the New Constitution of Chile can be downloaded from the website of the
With information from AFP
