In a meeting on the afternoon of this Monday (12), party leaders and the main benches of the Chilean Congress advanced in an agreement on how the next constituent process will take place, after the defeat of a proposal for a new Charter in a plebiscite on the 4th.
As a result of this agreement, the writing of a second text will be carried out through a new collegiate of constituents, elected by the population and on an equal basis — as was the case in the previous Assembly. This time, however, the group will have the help of a committee of experts, including constitutionalists and lawyers, whose training is yet to be defined. The measure is defended by leaders such as former president Ricardo Lagos.
The committee of party representatives, however, still needs to define other important points, such as the representativeness of the indigenous vote, the way in which independent candidates can run, the deadline for the final drafting of the Charter and the system for forming committees to deal with different themes.
The agreement is being negotiated at the request of President Gabriel Boric after the Reject’s victory in the plebiscite. The final proposal will still have to be sent to Congress, for approval by parliamentarians and the beginning of the new work cycle.
The announcement of this partial agreement was made this Monday by the president of the Senate, Álvaro Elizalde. “The new Constitution will be drafted by a body elected 100% by the population. This is necessary to preserve a basic principle of this process, which is that citizens are the protagonists and that their voice is heard and respected,” he said.
The new text will also be subject to an “exit plebiscite”, that is, a new vote at the end, to establish its implementation or reject it.
The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Soto, said that the agreement “guarantees the continuity of the construction of a new Constitution”, because that was “what the population decided in the October 2020 plebiscite” — in reference to the consultation that followed. to the 2019 protests and decided to end the Charter approved during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
A new round of discussions between party leaders will take place this Thursday (15), but the government has already expressed satisfaction with the announcements made after the meeting on Monday. “We are happy with the result, because we know that the new Constituent Assembly will be elected in its entirety by the population”, said the minister of the Secretariat of the Presidency, Ana Lya Uriarte.
She took office after a cabinet reform promoted by Boric precisely in response to the Reject’s victory, seen as a defeat for her administration.
The negotiations take place as tensions mount in the streets of Santiago. Since the last 5th, almost daily student protests are causing clashes with the police. The demonstrations burned at least three buses and used Molotov cocktails; 26 reports of violence were registered.
This Sunday, during ceremonies commemorating the 49th anniversary of Pinochet’s coup d’état, four people were arrested, and security agents dispersed the protesters with tear gas. This Monday, new acts were recorded.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
