The World Briefly

May 09, 2023

Exit, Stage Right

Chile

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Chilean conservative parties scored a major win Monday in an election to select members of the body that will draft Chile’s new constitution, a victory that marks a marked shift from the progressive majority that was originally charged with drawing up the first draft, the BBC reported.

Results showed the far-right Republican Party won 22 of 51 seats on the constitutional assembly, with other right-wing parties securing 11 seats. The left-wing Unidad para Chile, or “Unity for Chile” party, won 17, leaving it short of the 21 seats needed to grant it the power of veto.

Republican party leader José Antonio Kast welcomed the results as a sign that “the ideas of common sense have triumphed.” His party has opposed changing the current pro-business constitution drafted during the regime of autocrat Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Calls for a new constitution began following the 2019 mass protests over perceived inequality in the Latin American country, Al Jazeera wrote.

The constitutional assembly was set up to draft a new charter to replace the Pinochet-era document. Initially, progressive members dominated the assembly and unveiled a new constitution last year that many observers described as one of the world’s most progressive charters.

The new draft proposed a variety of changes, including improved social benefits and environmental rights. It would have also declared Chile a “plurinational state” and recognized the rights of the country’s Indigenous groups – which make up about 13 percent of the population – to their lands and resources.

In September, a referendum to approve the new constitution failed after more than 60 percent of Chileans rejected the draft for being too radical – which also prompted the polls for a new assembly.

The new constitutional body will start its work next month and will have five months to create a fresh draft. The final text will be presented to the public for a referendum in December.

The conservative victory, meanwhile, is a challenge for left-wing President Gabriel Boric, who backed the previous progressive draft.

It is also a challenge for the new body which will have to reconcile the conservative majority’s perspectives with the demands for change that initiated the process, according to analysts.

This story originally appeared in the May 09, 2023 newsletter, The Wheels of Fortune.