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A year has passed since a series of large and violent demonstrations shook Chile.
“The outbreak,” or “outbreak,” as the protests were called, began as a reaction to higher ticket prices in the Santiago metro, but quickly turned into nationwide protests demanding better standards of living and social equality.
“One of the protesters’ demands was to change the constitution to create a more just society,” said Pablo Ruiz-Tagle, constitutional expert and dean of the University of Chile.
Controversial from the start
The current constitution was adopted in 1980 under the military junta of dictator Augusto Pinochet.
According to Pablo Ruiz-Tagle, it reflects many of the ideals of the Pinochet dictatorship. It gives the presidency unusually great power relative to parliament and emphasizes liberal market values in relation to welfare issues.
– Rights are designed as freedoms, explains and continues Ruiz-Tagle:
– The constitution gives you, for example, the right to choose between going to a private hospital and a public hospital, but nothing more.
At the same time, Chile is a country with great economic inequality (greater income differences of all OECD countries) and one of the protesters’ demands has been to demand greater responsibility from the State to provide basic welfare.
Strong symbol value
The fact that the constitution was created during the military dictatorship is also in itself a reason why many now want to change it, says Andrés Rivarola, director of the Nordic Latin American Institute at Stockholm University.
– There is a very strong symbolic value in that change, he says.
A new constitution could also create greater legitimacy for the political system in Chile, he argues. Today, trust in the political establishment is low.
Long road to a new constitution
Exactly what a new constitution will look like, no one knows yet. Sunday’s referendum will answer two questions: whether Chile will begin work on a new constitution and who will be responsible for drafting it.
After that, another referendum will likely be required before a new constitution can be passed. It is not clear how long such a process can take, but it may be a couple of years.
