Victory of the Right | Comment

From Santiago

A proposal for a new Chilean constitution was rejected at the polls. The overwhelming result: 61.88% rejection and 38.12% approval, with a record turnout of nearly 13 million voters, 4.5 million more than in December 2021. The distance between the preferences was wider than all the polls had predicted. For losing, but not by such a huge margin. Chile were surprised on Sunday night: both losers and winners because of the distance.

An hour after the tables closed, the first festivities began. Their leaders spoke of each of the rejectionist commands: the Comando de Chile Vamos traditional right-wing parties, the Comando de la Centro-Isquerda por el Rejo or the Comando Amarillos por Chile. “Chile has voted to move forward, to give itself a new chance, and Chile needs something better than what the text of the Constitutional Convention proposed (…) “We are absolutely committed to giving Chile a new constitution without any doubt.”For example, confirmed a spokesman for the center-left command.

All the leaders of the rejection reaffirmed their desire to move towards a new text. “Our commitment is with a good and new constitution, the constitutional process is not over”For example, a spokesperson for Chile Vamos confirmed that, for example, the traditional Free Democratic Union (UTI) party is located.

Reasons why the new constitution was not ratified in Chile

It is a central element: The campaign for early rejection of the 1980 text or its reform was abandoned in the defense discourse. On October 25, 2020, the majority of the community voted overwhelmingly for a new constitution. The failure of the main tradition of authoritarianism. As a result, the right wing took up the proposal leading to a new constitution. Leaders of the center-left of rejection, for their part, developed a discourse that sought to challenge those who had historically mobilized against Pinochetism: “We voted no in 88 and I agree in 2020, but this time we said that this text is not acceptable and we have to fix it”A spokesperson revealed.

One of the first explanations for the success of rejection might be: Ability to expand campaign beyond franchise, 2019 and 2020 and 2021 elections are not focused on the defense of what is contested on the streets.To convince a diverse and wide electorate.

“The majority of the citizens have spoken, and despite their fervent desire to draft a new constitution, they have rejected the proposal of a constitutional convention. We humbly accept this decision and its content, and as a country we deserve to have a new constitution with the spirit of the majority of the people of Chile.”. Thus began the speech of the campaign command from a platform with several keynotes from the ruling parties.

As is usually the case with failures, cross-examinations about liability began to abound. Some voices concentrated their weight on the shortcomings of the government, which received 38% approval, while others put the focus of criticism on the text and the dynamics of the conference.. The proposal for the new constitution already contained the previous legislative repeal with the idea of ​​”consenting to reform”, that is, accepting that there were deficiencies in many aspects that needed to be rectified.

One can think of other elements of the failure: for example, the difficulty of creating an effective communication strategy for the new constitution, not just during the weeks of the campaign, but throughout its sessions for a year. There are many who confirm that the chosen system cannot outsource the internal process.. This weakness is complicated to explain a complex text of 388 articles, which, in turn, has been called an avalanche of fake news by fear mongering and rejection.

“Government cannot withdraw from this failure, it cannot separate itself from the will it has defended with great force, and campaigning for that will, should be a call to thought”, confirmed Javier Macaya, president of the UDI. The relationship between the government and the referendum is one of the perennial and complex topics of the campaign, and therefore, the failure of the approval seeks to correlate with the failure of the Borik government after five months in office.

Boric after the rejection of the new constitution

The President spoke just before 10pm local time. “This decision of Chilean men and women requires our institutions and political actors to work harder, with more dialogue, with more respect and affection, until it explains, gives hope to all of us, and unites us as a country. There At the most, violence and intolerance towards those who think differently should be categorically set aside.He pointed out.

The government has raised since July that if it wins the rejection, it will have to hold another election to form a new convention that will draft a new text. In the speech Borik pledged to “work with Congress and civil society to create a new constituent roadmap that gives us a text, gathers the lessons learned from the process, and explains it to the majority of citizens.”

For that, he will meet the leaders of both the Houses and then various social sectors this Monday. One of the aims was to draw up agreements for a new mechanism and a timetable for the election of another convention, but now the government and the streets are marked by defeat. The right seeks to go on the offensive after its first major political victory since 2019.

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