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The Chilean people agree that this Sunday’s plebiscite is a historic opportunity for the country.
Both citizens in the streets and political analysts consider that This is a first step to write a new Magna Carta that allows the fundamental social reforms that the Chileans claim.
“This is the most important political event that Chile has had since the recovery of democracy in 1990,” Víctor Orellana, a researcher at the University of Chile and director of the Nodo XXI Foundation, explained to EL TIEMPO.
“Here, yes or yes, changes are going to come and the best thing will be to feel that it was thanks to a new Constitution that we all voted,” Alejandra Pizarro, a 23-year-old student, told the AFP agency during the closing ceremony of the campaign of the ‘I approve’ last Thursday.
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The plebiscite on the reform of the Constitution became the great triumph achieved by the protests of October 2019. The trigger for the demonstrations at that time was the rise in subway fares in Santiago, but, in retrospect, that was the spark that broke out a crisis that had been cooking in Chile for years.
The protesters had voiced growing complaints against the current Constitution, which is inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
The discontents point out that this constitution enshrines an economic system that does not provide basic services, such as health care and decent pensions for millions of Chileans, which are managed by private parties.
Approved in 1980, this political charter established a binominal electoral system of deputies and senators that favored, already in democracy, particularly the right-wing parties, which blocked the possibility of changes in Congress.
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For this reason, the analysts consider this plebiscite as a step to write a Constitution thought about the social needs of the people.
“The plebiscite represents the possibility of institutionally channeling the demands that have exploded in the form of a social crisis,” Chilean sociologist Carlos Ruiz Encina, president of the Nodo XXI Foundation, told this newspaper.
Since October last year, the discontent in the country spread even after Congress approved the plebiscite in November.
The demonstrations continued into the beginning of this year and were only diminished during the period of confinement due to the pandemic.
On October 18, hundreds of people took to the streets again to commemorate one year of the social outbreak and vindicate the plebiscite process in the country.
“This process is unprecedented in Chile because, if we go back to what has happened since 1812, all the Constitutions have been imposed by coups or military pressure, and on that occasion we would be breaking that tradition,” Octavio Avendaño commented with this newspaper , Doctor in Political Science and academic from the University of Chile.
For his part, Mauro Besaure, director of the doctoral program in Critical Theory at the Andrés Bello University, said: “The Constitution of 1980 was a system that until today took away responsibility from the State in terms of education, health and pensions; all of that became private businesses ”.
Support for the plebiscite
The Bloomberg agency, regarding the plebiscite, wrote that the majority of Chileans demand a change in a deeply unequal society where the State provides the minimum of services. But he also explained the fears that some sectors of the right have in the country.
“Many on the right consider Sunday’s vote as a threat to everything that made the country a model of good economic management in the region. They are concerned that the new constitution will enshrine a series of rights to education, health and housing, and undermine the fiscal prudence that has made Chile the best-qualified sovereign in Latin America, ”said this specialized economic outlet.
The plebiscite could allow Chile to “begin a new stage in which the main elements that generated the Chilean success in terms of economic growth of the last decades are maintained, but that this is also complemented with a social coverage agenda, with financial more progressive public ”, declared the director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund, Alejandro Werner.
In contrast, Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, president of the ruling Independent Democratic Union party, the only party that promotes rejection, believes that “it is reasonable that new modifications could be introduced, but that is very different from those who pretend to start from a blank page, from scratch, ignoring not only the constitutional history of Chile, but also rewriting history from scratch, ”he said.
But the truth is that several polls show broad support for passing the plebiscite.
The Pulso Ciudadano survey (see infographic) shows an 85 percent public favor to answer ‘I approve’ to the question “Do you want to change the Constitution?”. Meanwhile, another poll, Criteria Research, says 72 percent are in favor.
This broad support, in part, is also due to the fact that not so radical sectors of the Chilean right also believe that the plebiscite is convenient.
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Another historical fact is that Chilean women will have for the first time the possibility of drafting the new Constitution in equal numbers. In fact, another question that is asked in the plebiscite is whether he wants a Constituent Convention or a Mixed Convention.
The first contemplates the direct election of constituents that are not part of Congress. The second option contemplates that half are members of the current Parliament (today very delegitimized by citizens) and the other is elected by vote, but without considering parity between men and women.
In one of the greatest achievements of the powerful Chilean feminist movement, Congress approved in March an unprecedented law that ensures gender parity in candidacies for the Constituent Convention.
“It has been a feminist demand for years and we want parity to be not only in the political system, but also in all sectors, both private and public,” Rosa Montero, president of the political party in formation, Alternative Feminist, told AFP.
Although everything indicates that the plebiscite will be approved, this is only the first step on a path that Chile must travel and that does not end after the polls are closed.
“Many mobilizations will continue after the vote, because this process is going to last a long time,” added Avendaño.
CARLOS J. REYES *
International Writing* With information from agencies
