Chile president urges open dialogue in drafting new constitution

Sebastian Pinera’s ruling coalition suffered big loss last month in election of representatives to draft constitution.

Chile’s outgoing president has urged 155 representatives who will be drafting a new constitution for the South American nation to abandon the “politics of the trenches”, engage in open dialogue and reach agreements. In his annual State of the Nation address on Tuesday, centre-right President Sebastian Pinera said he would convene the new body “in the coming days”. He said hoped the Constitutional Convention would “rigorously respect the limits and rules” of its mandate and preserve the rights, opportunities and freedoms of all Chilean citizens.