Waiting for a new constitution

CHILE - In Brief 14 Dec 2023 by Robert Funk

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The results of Sunday’s constitutional referendum are anyone’s guess. Most polls have consistently showed that Chileans will reject the most recent proposal. But four years after the 2019 protests which led to a seemingly endless constitutional debate, there is a sense of constitutional and electoral exhaustion. It may well be that a (small) majority votes in favor of the document, just to get it all over with. Indeed, at least one ‘illegal’ poll (the last day for legally publishing polling data was December 2nd) shows that the proposal would win by 54.7% versus 42.6% voting against. Moreover, Chile is a very different country today than it was in 2019. The constitutional clamor has been replaced by concerns over the economy, security, and a seemingly immobilized government. The never-ending story Another point being made is that a vote in favor of "In Favor" would bring an end to the long constitutional debate. It would bring democratic legitimacy to whatever emerges, shutting down, for once and for all, the longstanding complaint that Chile’s current constitution was written and imposed during the military dictatorship. This argument is overly optimistic. Much of the political world – from center to the left – felt left out of the constitutional debate as it did not have the votes to counter the weight of the right. As a result, aspects such as the design of the new Congress (i.e.,reducing the number of deputies) or social issues (the question of abortion rights) in the proposed text reflect the preferences of the right. The lack of consensus reduces the legitimacy of the new text, and will likely inspire attempts to modify or replace the new constitution. Real probl...