Explained | What Chile aims to achieve with a new constitution

The drafting of the new Chilean constitution is slated to be completed by July 4. It will then be put to a referendum for approval on September 4.

Overview: In October 2020, 78 per cent of Chileans approved a proposal to draft a new constitution. A year earlier, the then right-wing President Sebastian Piñera had approved this referendum following large scale protests which saw over a million people taking to the streets – initially triggered by a hike in the Santiago Metro fare.   

The current left-wing President Gabriel Boric – also a prominent face of the protests— aspires to reform the country’s health, education, housing and pensions system while being “fiscally responsible,” according to Reuters. He assumes the top office at a time when the country’s economy is fragile— experiencing high inflation, reeling under the impact of COVID-19 and surrounded by uncertainty owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.  

According to the World Bank, Chile has been among Latin America’s fastest-growing economies in recent decades. However, more than 30 per cent of the population is economically vulnerable and income inequality remains high. The 2019 protests sought reforms to address this inequality, spurred by the involvement of private sectors in social realms. 

The previous constitution was drafted during military dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime. Several amendments were made in 2005 during Ricardo Lagos’ presidency, prominent among them being the reduction in the presidential term from six to four years and the curtailing of the special powers of the armed forces. Extensive amendments removed constitutional provisions regarding the appointment of ‘senators-for-life’ and ‘appointed senators.’ 

The constitutional convention in charge of the process commenced work in July 2021 and has until July 4, 2022, to finish drafting the new constitution. Following this, the President would have three days to call for a referendum to accept or reject the new constitution. The referendum is usually held two months after this. In other words, Chile will make a final decision about its new constitution on September 4 this year. 

The referendum in 2019 tackled two main points: firstly, whether the constitution should be changed at all; and secondly, whether the new constitution would be prepared by a constitutional convention of members elected directly or a mixed constitutional convention – consisting of both members of parliament and directly elected citizens in equal proportion. Seventy-nine per cent of voters suggested that a directly elected constitutional convention be entrusted with this duty. 

A second vote conducted between May 15 and 16 last year elected the members of the Constitutional Convention. The 155-member convention reserved 17 seats exclusively for indigenous people – ensuring representation of the varied communities constituting approximately 12.8 per cent of the country’s total population as per the 2017 census.