The Chileans voted on Saturday May 15, the first of two days in a poll considered the most important in the history of their democracy, to designate the drafters of their new Constitution intended to promote more social justice and to close the Pinochet era.
14 million Chileans called to the polls
“Here begins a change of era, and if we claimed in 2019, today we must all go and vote”, estimated Carmela Irrutia, 46, at a polling station in the Ñuñoa district of Santiago.
Some 14 million Chileans are called to the polls for this vote which will continue on Sunday. They must choose 155 elected among 1373 candidates on a parity basis. Seventeen seats will also be reserved for the 10 indigenous peoples of Chile.
“I hope we will have a Constitution that will capture the soul of our country”Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, a conservative, said after voting in the capital.
This Constitution will replace the one drafted in 1980 under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). “This election will define the Constitution which will guide us for the next 40 or 50 years”, emphasizes Claudio Fuentes, scholar at the School of Political Science at Diego Portales University. This ballot is ” certainly “ the most important in 31 years of democracy, he believes, “A new Chile is at stake”.
A great social uprising at the origin of this vote
Rewriting the Constitution was one of the demands resulting from the biggest social uprising in recent decades, which began in October 2019 to demand a more egalitarian society.
The change in the current fundamental law, which severely limits state action and promotes private activity in all sectors, including education, health and pensions, is seen as the removal of a key obstacle to profound social reforms in one of the most unequal countries in Latin America.
According to polls, more than 60% of Chileans believe that this Constitution has created a system that benefits a small number of privileged people.
“It’s as if we were really starting to get rid of” Pinocho “(the nickname given to Pinochet by his detractors, Editor’s note), his shadow, his heritage, everything”, says Carmela Urquiza, a 62-year-old civil servant living in Santiago.
“Chile has the opportunity to make its second transition, it will have taken three decades because of the too strong tendency to the status quo of the party system” Marcelo Mella, a political scientist at the University of Santiago, told AFP.
The new Constitution must be drafted within nine months, extendable only once by three additional months. It must be approved or rejected in 2022 by a compulsory vote referendum.
Litmus test
The poll, already postponed for three weeks, was spread over two days to limit the risks of contamination to the Covid-19, and will also include local elections for mayor, city councilor and, for the first time, regional governor.
Chile was one of the few OECD countries that did not have elected regional authorities. Analysts see the ballot as a litmus test ahead of the November presidential elections. This electoral process is also the first in the world to elect a Constituent Assembly on a parity basis, with an equal number of men and women.
Predictions on the political forces that will make up the Constituent Assembly are risky, but the difficulty of independent candidates in making themselves known should favor traditional parties. “There are a lot of new variables at play: it’s an unprecedented election in a context of a pandemic, with a system of parity, with reserved seats, and with lists of independents. This is all new. It is therefore very difficult to make predictions, and we do not know for sure how many people will vote ”, note Claudio Fuentes.
The left-wing opposition, scattered over 69 of the 70 running lists, intends to propose a new model for the country, with various social rights guaranteed, such as education, health or housing. For their part, the candidates of the right in power, grouped together on a single large list allied to the far right, defend the current system, which they claim has fostered the country’s economic growth.
The first estimates are expected early Sunday night.
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