For the moment, there are nearly 80 pages that weave the content of the new Chilean Fundamental Law, drawn up by 154 elected officials since July 2021. After three months devoted to tying up its regulations, the Constituent Assembly – the result of a referendum, in May 2020, 78% approving the idea of rewriting the Constitution – continues to work on the substance of the articles. The text must replace the one which had been approved during the dictatorship (1973-1990) and which enshrined the principle of a State in withdrawal vis-à-vis the private sector.
The demand for a new constitutional nomenclature had become one of the great demands of the street during the historic movement against inequality in 2019. A demand for social justice which was also expressed with the election, in November 2021 , of left-wing president Gabriel Boric, who came to power on March 11. Then deputy, he himself had promoted the drafting of a new text, in November 2019, in order to appease the ardor of the demonstrators.
“Chile is a social and democratic State of law. It is plurinational, intercultural and ecological” : this article gives the “the” of the text, written by an Assembly which leans largely to the left. It engraves in stone the notion of a united State, formally recognizing the existence of the indigenous populations, for which 17 seats are reserved. the “right to social security” but also to “dignified and adequate housing” was approved, while articles dealing with other pillars of citizens’ lives, such as education or pensions, still need to be studied.
“We can clearly see a social democratic framework appearing, with the concept of parity running through it entirely”, remarks Juan Pablo Rodriguez, sociologist at the Center for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion. Flagship article of elected officials promoting women’s rights, the legalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy joined the draft text. “In general, the approved articles are the most open, which leaves room for political interpretationcontinues the university. We can say that if the current Constitution is neoliberal and the heiress of the dictatorship, this one is the baby of the social revolt of 2019.
Unfavorable poll
However, the divorce between public opinion and the Assembly has never been so glaring. Reversing the dynamics of the 2020 referendum which had massively approved the drafting of a new text, a poll has just given, at the beginning of April, and for the first time, a majority in favor of a rejection of the new fundamental law: according to the he Cadem Institute, 46% of those questioned would vote against this text in the referendum scheduled for September 4, and 40% for.
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