Chileans Still Want a New Constitution, Now They Must Decide Who Will Write It
Image courtesy of Daniel Mueller via Unsplash
On a scale not seen since the violent 1973 toppling of its government by a military junta, Chile has been rocked with political upheaval and civil unrest. Beginning with a coordinated protest by Santiago high schoolers and university students against a raise in the metro fare through fare evasion, the first wave of protests reached a crescendo when over a million people marched through the streets of Santiago on 25 October 2019. Marchers, expanding on demands for a reformed pension system, a raise in the minimum wage, and the foundation of an independent judicial system and administration for Chile’s Indigenous Mapuche, made the target of the now ubiquitous debate in Chile the nation's fundamental law: its constitution.
The current constitution dates to 1980, when then-dictator Augusto Pinochet implemented it with the blessing of a dubious national referendum. While this constitution has had numerous democratic amendments in the past decades, it is still Pinochet's constitutional frame. Marred by systemic inequalities critics claim it generated by privatizing many of Chile’s public services, such as healthcare, the constitution’s days were soon to be numbered. In 2020, Chileans took to the ballot box and overwhelmingly demanded that a process to create a new constitution should begin, with over 78 percent of voters approving a measure to begin the drafting process. Despite the approbation for this measure, its ultimate product, the 2022 proposed constitution, was abjectly rejected in September 2022’s voter referendum. In September, 61.87 percent of those who turned up to polls opted to shoot it down.
Although Chileans, according to polling from Espacio Público, long for a new constitution, the finalized 2022 draft was seen by many as too progressive–it was certainly designed for the twenty-first century. The constitution contained a collection of enumerated rights, which included liberties as modern as the right to access of the “digital environment” and even clean air, and thus would surely have made for a contemporary makeover of the Chilean legal system.
But the story doesn’t end there – Chileans are now taking another swing at the process of rewriting the nation’s foundational code. In May 2023, they’ll vote in a nationwide election to choose 50 members of the provisional Constitutional Council who will have until November 6 2023 to produce a new constitutional draft. In such a pivotal election, the campaign has attracted all parties across Chile’s highly diverse political landscape, which now has divided into three major ideological coalitions.
Courting Chile’s center and center-left is the Todo por Chile (“Everything for Chile”) pact, which hosts, among others, the Party for Democracy, and the Christian Democrats. To its left is Unidad por Chile (“Unity for Chile”), a coalition of all of Chile’s recognized left-wing parties, such as Democratic Revolution, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, and five others. Present among the five is the party of incumbent leftist Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, who championed the ill-fated vote in favor of the previous draft. The center, center-left, and leftist parties that make up both “Unity for Chile” and “Everything for Chile” have, since 2022, sought a constitution which significantly expands social rights, especially those of Chile’s sizable Indigenous minority. Thirdly, there is Chile’s right, represented by parties who instead collectively championed the vote to reject the 2022 national plebiscite, all are united under the umbrella of the Chile Seguro (“Safe Chile”) pact, which comprises National Renewal, the Independent Democratic Union, and Political Evolution parties. Having campaigned against the progressive 2022 draft, member parties of this coalition operate on an espoused platform of social conservatism and economic liberalism, seeking a minimally changed constitution.
With each of the coalitions seeking to convince voters of their own respective visions for a new Chilean constitution, they face an electorate that is distrustful of government, dissatisfied with the status quo, and calling for change. When asked by Chilean marketing firm and public opinion pollster Cadem in December of last year, one sample of 707 people across Chile reported that 63 percent were in favor of a new Chilean constitution. Conversely, in January, another of 830 polled by Activa, another analytics firm, saw only 25.7 percent indicate that they disagreed with the concept of a new constitution. If these polls are to be believed, the embattled spirit of protest against the aging laws developed in the Pinochet regime is alive and well, despite still-present support for the economic benefits to more affluent Chileans that the current constitution has provided.
Sentiment towards all things new is not unanimously positive throughout Chile. When asked by Cadem whether they approved or disapproved of the young and notably left-leaning President Boric’s performance, respondents signaled a 64 percent rating of disapproval. With Boric being one of the icons of Latin America’s recently resurgent left wing, this trend could signal a warning for those elected to the Constitutional Council against testing the bounds of Chile’s willingness to countenance an overly progressive constitution; a warning which could threaten the position of Unidad por Chile. The nation’s appetite for change, while ravenous, appears more cautious of a leftist flavor.
Though dissatisfied, the Chilean population remains active in seeking change. Since the start of protests in 2019, Chileans have consistently turned out to make their desire known in order to upset the status quo and usher in a new legal framework. Broadly maintaining the demand for a more equitable constitution that would make basic necessities more accessible to working Chileans, their goals, if met, would mark the beginning of a new, decidedly anti-neoliberal era in the nation’s history. In the same vein, the 2022 voter referendum, regardless of opinions surrounding its outcome, saw colossal levels of turnout at 85.84 percent, as Chileans showed the world the vibrancy and health of their democracy in the modern era.
Furthermore, Chile is not the first Latin American nation to try and so drastically alter its constitution. Between Brazil fashioning its own democratically reformed fundamental law in 1988, Argentina reforming its own constitution in 1994, and Paraguay in 1992, this was a party to which Chile was fashionably late, as each of these three states emerged with a revived democratization after years upon years of military dictatorship. Through it all, despite immense disagreement over what its new constitution will look like, one thing is certain in Chile: the old still must go, and a new, fairer constitution must be reined in.
More From Our Writers
