Chile rejects left-leaning Constitution – The New York Times

SANTIAGO, Chile – For the past three years, Chileans have struggled to find a new path for their country in the form of a Constitution, written entirely from scratch, that will transform their society and grant more rights than any previous national charter.

On Sunday, they rejected that text.

The proposed changes are aimed at transforming one of the most conservative countries in Latin America into one of the world’s most left-leaning societies, but Chileans decide that’s gone too far.

The rejection was an abrupt end to a long and sometimes painful process that promised a political revolution for this South American nation of 19 million, but instead, Chile is deeply divided. about his future.

Currently, Chile is left with the same legal system that has its roots in the brutal dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990.

The question of what happens next for Chile – and how the country can address grievances about inequality that led to violent protests first and then efforts to build new Constitution – currently shrouded in uncertainty following Sunday’s failure of the new text to win over voters. .

It seems obvious that the Chileans want to change some form.

In a vote in 2020 – to be held later nationwide protests, started by a 4 cent increase in subway fares, resulted in 30 deaths in 2019 – almost four out of five Chileans said they wanted a new charter.

But the vision of transformation laid out by a constitutional congress of 154 elected members, many of whom are political outsiders, proved too drastic an overhaul for most of the country.

With 72% of the votes counted, 62% of Chileans rejected the document, and the leaders of the campaign to adopt the Constitution conceded defeat.

Now, Chile’s political establishment will have to decide on its next steps. Political leaders on both sides say the current Constitution must be overhauled or completely replaced, but how and when, remains unclear.

Conservative leaders could try to rewrite or change the text through Congress, while Chile’s left-wing president, Gabriel Boric, said voters should elect a new constitutional congress to draft it. another proposal and start from scratch.

Sunday’s vote was a major setback for Mr Boric, a 36-year-old, tattooed, former student protest leader who took office in March. He quickly faced a sharp drop in approval ratings amid rising inflation and crime, and he bet on a new Constitution to allow him to fulfill his leftist vision for the country. . Instead, much of his term could now be mired in more political infighting over the country’s constitutional future.

Chilean voters rejected a 170-page, 388-article proposal that would legalize abortion, mandate universal health care, demand gender equality in government, give Indigenous groups greater autonomyempowering labor unions, strengthening exploitation regulations and empowering nature and animals.

In total, it will include more than 100 rights in Chile’s national charter, more than any other constitution in the world, including the right to housing, education, clean air, water, food, sanitation , internet access, retirement benefits, free legal advice and care “from birth to death.”

And it may have eliminated the Senate, strengthened regional governments and allowed Chilean presidents to run for a second consecutive term.

The text includes commitments to combat climate change and protect the right of the Chilean people to choose their own identity “in all its dimensions and manifestations, including sexual characteristics, gender identity and expression”. .”

The sweeping ambition of this proposal prompted many Chileans, including many who had previously voted to replace the current text. There is a lot of uncertainty about its impact and costs, some of which is fueled by misinformation, including claims that it will ban home ownership and that abortions will be allowed. in the ninth month of pregnancy.

Economists expect the proposed changes to cost between 9% and 14% of Chile’s $317 billion gross domestic product. The country has long been among the countries with the lowest relative spending on public services among the major democracies.

Many voters specifically objected to the language that identifies Chile as a “multinational” country, which means that 11 indigenous groups, representing almost 13% of the population, can be recognized as their own country within the country. , with their own management structure and court system. The proposal has become a focus of the campaign to reject the charter.

Many Chileans are also concerned about the constitutional convention that wrote the proposal, especially its most left-wing members.

After the 2020 constitutional referendum, Chileans elected more than 150 people to write the new legal system. Independents won more than half of the seats, including lawyers, academics, journalists, two actors, a dentist, a mechanic, a chess master and a host of activists. description, including someone who became famous for Protest in Pikachu. Seventeen seats belonged to the natives.

The leftists, who won more than two-thirds of the seats, took full control of the process; they did not need a single vote from the conservative convention members to approve the proposed amendments.

As a result, Ricardo Lagos, Chile’s centre-left president from 2000 to 2006, said the proposal was “extremely partisan”.

But it was the well-publicized behavior of some members of the convention that may have repelled the Chileans even more. A constitutional member has been revealed to have faked a cancer diagnosis that he used during his campaign. Another person showered with his camera during a remote vote.

Patricio Fernández, a left-wing writer who was a member of the conference, said he regretted those headlines could have spoiled a historic opportunity for his country.

“I’m far from convinced that this is a perfect proposition,” he said ahead of the vote. “But it is a democratic agreement that includes many voices that have historically been marginalized in Chile.”

María Eugenia Muse, 57, a health insurance saleswoman, leaves a polling station in an affluent Santiago neighborhood on Sunday afternoon with her 84-year-old mother in her arms. Both voted to draft a new constitution by 2020 – and rejected the replacement proposal on Sunday.

“It was a failure, a shame for what they did,” she said. “The constitution they wrote is not the constitution of Chile, of the Chilean people. It is the Constitution of a Group”.

Pascale Bonnefoy contribution report.