Chile: Piñera’s reaction after the defeat in …

After the hard defeat suffered by the ruling party this Sunday in the conventional constituent elections, the President of Chile Sebastian piñera, I consider that neither the government nor the traditional parties “sufficiently accord with the demands and desires of the citizens”.

“We are challenged by new expressions and new leaders. It is our duty to listen with humility and attention to the message of the people and to strive to better interpret and respond to the needs, desires and hopes of the Chileans ”, declared the president after having known the partial results of the election of the 155 conventional who will write a new Magna Carta which will replace the one imposed by the Pinochet dictatorship.

Against all expectations and with more than 70% control, the independents and the left-wing opposition won more than two-thirds of the seats for the constitutive convention, born of a process of massive mobilizations against the neoliberal system which governs this country.

“The new Constitution is a great opportunity for Chileans to meet again and to be able to build the roads of the future together,” Piñera said.

In “wise” countries, he added, constitutions “are not the epicenter of clashes and divisions”, but “the great framework of unity, of stability”.

The right wing of which Piñera is a part presented a single list made up of the parties of the ruling party. However is the big loser of these elections. He won less than a third of the seats at the convention, you have no possibility to decisively influence the text or veto the articles.

With a proportional counting system that favors the big political parties, the independents have obtained an unprecedented result and are the main force of the convention.

It is made up of personalities outside politics who seek to channel citizens’ demands for the social crisis of 2019, and its emergence is perceived by many experts as the start of a new model of citizen policy, outside the traditional political forces.

Yesterday’s elections were the way to channel the massive protests that started in 2019 for a fairer socio-economic model. Last October, a plebiscite was held in which nearly 80% of citizens voted for the renewal of the fundamental law.

The Constituent Assembly, which will include 17 places reserved for indigenous peoples, will have up to a year to draft a Constitution that he must collect “the values ​​and principles that live in the soul of the Chileans”, according to Piñera’s expression.

To achieve this, he added, “The new constituents must generate a well-intentioned dialogue, which will make it possible to find the broad and necessary agreements to give Chile a good Constitution”.

The process will culminate in 2022 with an exit plebiscite to finally approve or reject the new Magna Carta, which would replace the current one, inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), and repudiated for its dictatorial origin and for the privatization of basic services such as water or pensions.