- The reform spoke of indigenous people, parity, transparency, ecology, bioethics...

- Chile Rejects By Majority The Proposal To Renew The Pinochet Constitution

Women celebrate the result of the constitutional plebiscite, in Santiago (Chile).

Plurinationality, equality, indigenous people, without a Senate... What have Chileans said 'no' to with their rejection of the new Constitution?

Chileans have rejected the text of the new Constitution that was born from the work of the Constitutional Convention and that it delivered to President Gabriel Boric. A clear majority (62%) of the votes of 15 million citizens have said no to the proposed new Constitution.

The Constitutional Convention took twelve months to produce a final draft of the Magna Carta. But this work has received the rejection of the Chileans, so, for now, the country continues with the Constitution, drawn up in 1980 by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and only partially reformed in.

The Constitution that Chileans did not like begins like this: "Chile is a social and democratic state of law. It is multinational, intercultural, regional, and ecological." He also says (he said) that the country "is constituted as a solidary republic."

Chile is a social and democratic state of law. It is multinational, intercultural, regional, and ecological"

It then reads: "Its democracy is inclusive and parity. It recognizes dignity, freedom, the substantive equality of human beings and their indissoluble relationship with nature as intrinsic and inalienable values." Too advanced and daring? For Chile, in light of the result, it follows that yes.

Los anhelos de cambio y dignidad exigen a nuestras instituciones y actores políticos que trabajemos con más empeño, diálogo, respeto y cariño, hasta arribar a una propuesta que nos interprete a todas y todos. Para allá vamos. Que viva la democracia y que viva Chile! pic.twitter.com/f5rQv2G5mJ

— Gabriel Boric Font (@gabrielboric) September 5, 2022

Democracy

The text that was voted this Sunday says that power "resides in the people, by and for the people"; speaks of transparency and equality; mentions participatory democracy mechanisms; and proposes the participation of indigenous peoples and nations.

Institutions

The text includes the end of the Senate, replaced by the Chamber of the Regions. In fact, it defines the country as a Regional State, recognizing the autonomy of regional governments. In addition, it demilitarized the police and recognized the legal systems of indigenous peoples (they were going to coexist with traditional justice).

Natives

Beyond recognizing the autonomy of regional governments, the Constitution proposes to establish indigenous territorial autonomies by law, so that these peoples can exercise their rights autonomously.

Parity

The Constitution enshrined for the first time the rights of women, children, people from indigenous peoples and nations, people with disabilities, people of diversity, and "sex-gender dissidence." And it did so under the principle of equality, parity, non-discrimination, and the gender perspective.

Gender equality

The draft protects the right to identity, a life free of gender-based violence, and sexual and reproductive rights. It even mentions the gender perspective in Justice.

The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, voting in the constitutional plebiscite this Sunday.

Ecology

After acknowledging the existence of a global climate and ecological crisis, the now rejected draft enshrines the rights of nature and the special duty of custody of the State over natural commons.

Economy

The alternative nature of the speakers is also reflected in the fact that they propose principles of fiscal responsibility, territorial equity, and development in harmony with nature. For example, empowering the State to prevent and punish market abuses or establishing that the State will have "absolute, exclusive, inalienable and imprescriptible control of the mines."

Digital future

The one that wanted to be a new Constitution also looks to the future (present) and speaks of the rights to digital political participation, information, knowledge, digital connectivity, and the protection of personal data. Or bioethical principles are mentioned to which science and research would be subordinated.

Why a new Constitution

In 2019, Chile seemed like a calm country. Sebastián Piñera was living his second term as president and said things like "in the midst of this troubled Latin America, Chile is a true oasis with a stable democracy." And so it seemed.

But underneath, like running water, discontent grew. And it did so because the powerful locomotive of the Chilean economy was leaving many by the wayside and because the transition to democracy had not left everyone happy. A good part of Chilean society really wanted to break with Pinochet and that meant getting rid of its protected constitution.

Demonstrations in Chile.

All this discontent took shape on the night of October 18, 2019, with a massive demonstration in Santiago. Although initially, the reason for the protest was to demand a drop in the price of public transport, in the end, the mobilization also called for renewing the Constitution.

A good part of Chilean society wanted to break with Pinochet and that meant getting rid of its protected constitution.

Demonstrations spread throughout the country. The protest was massive and the Government was overwhelmed. The traditional political class had to negotiate. Only a month after the first mobilization, the protesters sat down with the political parties to resolve the social crisis.

The protest was deeper than it might have seemed at first. And so, in those negotiations, the Agreement for Social Peace and the New Constitution appeared as a document that proposed to resolve with a referendum if a new Constitution had to be drafted and who should be in charge of drafting it.

Almost a year later, on October 25, 2020, Chileans approved at the polls the drafting of a new Magna Carta and that a Constitutional Convention would take care of it.

In May of the following year, the votes of the citizens decided who would integrate the 155 seats of the Constitutional Convention. Chileans gave new representatives a chance, turning their backs on traditional politicians.

A convention with independents, environmentalists, feminists, and representatives of indigenous peoples, but also with faces of the national right, began its work on July 4, 2021. A year later, and after much tension, the Constitutional Convention delivered a final text, a proposal for a new Constitution, with 388 articles, organized into 11 chapters.

More than 78% of Chileans voted to reform their Constitution.