Following 2019 protests, Chile goes to the polls in hopes of building a new social pact

In a week, Chile will have two days to leave go to the polls to elect 155 voters who will write the new Constitution with which the country hopes to build a new social pact after a long and complex period of protests.

After a five-week delay due to an increase in coronavirus infections, the one considered the most important choice for 31 years, when the country regained democracy after the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990).

On Saturday 15 and Sunday 16, the Chileans will elect the 155 members of the Constitutional Convention who will draft the new Magna Carta.

A Constitution that will replace the one inherited from the dictatorship, considered the main obstacle to greater social equality, the great clamor who summoned millions of people to the streets of Chile during the protests that began on October 18, 2019.

With plazas and avenues lit after weeks of mostly peaceful – and some very violent – protests political forces met in November of the same year. an agreement to call a plebiscite in which the electorate of over 14 million people decided whether or not to draft a new Constitution for Chile.

Scheduled for April 2020 but also postponed due to the pandemic, the referendum took place on October 25 last year: an overwhelming 80% majority approved the drafting of a new Constitution by a body made up of 100% elected members.

Seven months later over 1,300 candidates compete for constituency, in an election which, for the first time in the world, will be held on the basis of gender parity and includes 17 places reserved for indigenous peoples.

Esperanza

“It’s a symbolic choice and extremely important ”, in view of the hope that opens to build a new social pact, declared Carmen Le Foulon, coordinator of the Public Opinion Space of the Center d’Etudes Publiques (CEP), during a conference press with foreign correspondents.

Governors, mayors and regional councilors will also be elected, in votes that traditionally anticipate the results of the presidential election, which this time will only be months later, on November 21, in a calendar disrupted by outbreaks of covid.

No inquiry anticipates the outcome of the Constituent Assembly because of its unprecedented nature, the large number of candidates and the difficulties in taking samples.

In addition, the electoral campaign was interrupted due to the severe mobility restrictions imposed due to the increase in coronavirus infections in Chile, which since March 2020 has added more than 1.2 million cases and exceeds 27,000 deaths among 19 million people.

Although this electoral nomination is carried out with more than 46% of the target population already vaccinated against the covid.

Health authorities estimate that a slight drop in infections in recent weeks and more than seven million vaccinated with two doses – including members of the table – they will stimulate participation equal to or greater than that of the plebiscite (51%).

Some experts believe the turnout will be below the October milestone because this election is seen as “less epic.”

Regarding the results, the consultants estimate that the independent candidates will not get a broad vote, except with the exception of well-known figures – figures from television or the media – and that the traditional parties will concentrate the votes.

The left opposition the government of conservative Sebastián Piñera would emerge victorious in terms of the number of voters.

But “this could in no way result in the opposition passing the steamroller to the right-wing parties, because this opposition has practically irreconcilable programmatic differences,” said Mauricio Morales, political scientist and academic at the University. by Talca. AFP.

The opposing views of the opposition – which range from the Communist Party, Christian Democrats to different factions of the radical left – prevented them from being lumped into one big list, as did the ruling party, which concluded an electoral pact with the far right.

This division would end up benefiting the government pact, who would be over-represented because of the proportional electoral system that rewards coalitions that run together, Morales added.

Although Kenneth Bunker, political scientist and director of the political studies company tresquintos.cl, considered that the mistakes made in recent weeks by the Piñera government in the management of the pandemic and the late delivery of social assistance, would lead to the right to lose the vote.

“I’m not sure the right wing can get a third. Something will lose with what happened“, he claimed.

Agencia AFP

PB