Looking beyond the Chile’s constitutional moment

CHILE - In Brief 17 Dec 2023 by Robert Funk

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On Sunday, for the second time in as many years, Chileans have voted on a constitutional proposal designed by a democratically elected assembly. And for the second time, they have rejected it, with 55.8% against, versus 44.2% voting in favor. Whereas the 2022 proposal seemed to be far more progressive than most voters’ preferences, the most recent text was far more conservative. It is too soon to say what inspired voter preferences, but it seems likely that, beyond the content itself, electoral exhaustion and the government’s unpopularity played a role. Chile’s constitutional moment, which began as a way of soothing protesters back in 2019, appears to have passed for now. In his remarks after the results were known, President Gabriel Boric pledged that during his presidency, there will be no more attempts at drafting a new constitution. What comes next? President Boric’s first two years in office have been dominated by the constitutional process, which was already underway when he came to power. Many of his promised reforms were dependent on the results of the two constitutional referendums. With those out of the way and the constitutional process now “closed”, the president needs to show some attempt at resolving the demands that have never really gone away: pensions, healthcare and education (to which, in recent years, security has been added and is probably at the top of the list). This means renewed attempts at presenting some kind of pension reform, tax reform, and dealing with the urgent crisis of the private health insurance companies (Isapres). The president still lacks the power in Congress to get his way, but should at least show voters that he has a plan, an...