The parties of the left wishing to rewrite in depth the Chilean Constitution inherited from the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) were ahead, Sunday May 16, those of the conservative right, but the independent parties came out on top of the ballot to appoint the drafters of the new Basic Law.
The two lists which bring together candidates ranging from the center left to the Communist Party, who intend to propose a new model for the country with different guaranteed social rights, such as education, health or housing, collect 33% of the votes, after the count. 64% of the ballots.
With 21% of the vote, the right in power, defending the current system which would have favored, according to it, the economic growth of the country, does not have the control of the decisions of the Constituent Assembly which will be composed of 155 members elected on a parity, of which seventeen seats are reserved for the ten indigenous peoples.
Independent candidates – actors, writers, professors, social workers, lawyers – many of whom had participated in the biggest social uprising in decades, which began in October 2019 to demand a more egalitarian society, are supplanting those of the traditional parties and sweeping up the rest of the votes.
“Citizens are fed up with traditional parties”
According to Marcelo Mella, political scientist at the University of Santiago, ” most [des candidats indépendants] are outsiders, unlabeled and critical of traditional parties ”. Despite the absence of polls and difficult election forecasts, no analyst had anticipated such a raid on these candidates or the dismal result of the ruling right, united with the far right on one list, as looming, in November, the presidential election.
The results clearly show that “The electoral strength of the independents is much greater than we thought and this confirms that the citizens are fed up with traditional parties”, said Mireya Davila, of the Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Chile. According to her, “The political system is being reconfigured; there is an air of change in Chile, but it is also complex, because it will be necessary to negotiate with each of the independents and to deal with each of their positions within the Constituent Assembly ”. Daniel Jadue, Communist Party presidential candidate, was delighted that “The sectors which seek to transform the country have triumphed”.
Disaffection of voters
Another major lesson from this election spread over two days due to the Covid-19 epidemic: the disaffection of voters, who were only 37% to travel. The participation rate was 20.44% of the 14.9 million registered, at the end of the day Saturday, according to data from the electoral service. Javier Macaya, president of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), Chile’s largest right-wing party, said the country “Gave a signal that we need to be able to listen to. The traditional political blocs have been abandoned by the voters ”.
Heraldo Muñoz, candidate for the Progressive Democracy Party (PPD), said that “The strength of the independents emerges in an impromptu way and teaches the political class a lesson”. Rewriting the Constitution was one of the demands resulting from the violent social uprising of October 2019. It will replace the one drafted in 1980 under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet.
The change in the current Basic Law, which severely limits the action of the State and promotes private activity in all sectors, including education, health and pensions, is seen as the removal of an essential 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. The new Basic Law must be drafted within nine months, which can be extended only once by another three months. It must be approved or rejected in 2022 by a compulsory referendum.