Leaders of Chilean political parties and heads of benches of the two chambers of the Chilean Congress met this Wednesday to begin to define the steps of a new constituent process after the majority rejection of the project for the new Magna Carta in the plebiscite last Sunday and they agreed to a second meeting for next Monday, in which they hope to advance in concrete proposals for the process.
Also present at the meeting was the new minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency (Segpres), Ana Lya Uriarte, who arrived at Congress in Valparaíso this morning to present herself with the parliamentarians and in her first statements said that she was “tremendously grateful for the generous and warm reception” he received.
The dialogue also brought together the opposition and ruling groups, with the idea of establishing a schedule to give Chile a New Constitution.
“I believe that today (by Wednesday) the bases of the operation of this table, of this commission, will be established, I even believe that the name must be generated today, and we are totally available,” Uriarte had advanced.
Before the appointment, the new minister had a meeting with the Senate table, led by the president of said chamber, Álvaro Elizalde (Socialist Party), and after that she said that she hoped to have “politically a space to be able to express the government’s position “, although understanding that the process takes place in the National Congress.
After the meeting that lasted about 2 hours, Elizalde announced that the meeting showed a willingness to dialogue and specified that the objective “is to resolve the constituent itinerary.”
“The meaning of this dialogue is not to draft the Constitution, it is to establish the most suitable method; on Monday there will be a meeting in the Congress of Santiagoat 9 o’clock, which will have the objective of resolving the constituent itinerary, not addressing other issues that are part of the national political debate, ”added the president of the Senate.
“Let’s move forward together, slowly, but surely”indicated for his part the president of the lower house, Raúl Soto, who was consulted about the terms of this new dialogue, to which he replied that the only thing that is clear at the moment is the meeting that they will have next Monday at nine in the morning to “advance each of the proposals”.
From the opposition, the head of the Republican Party bench, Chiara Barchiesi, said: “We are willing to dialogue, but it cannot be taken for granted that Chileans want a new Constitution.”
On the other hand, the helmsman of the Communist Party, Guillermo Teillier, announced that on Monday the terms of this new process will be known in greater detail and that from his sector they are “supporters of a 100 percent elected Convention.”
On Sunday, the exit plebiscite was held to vote for the draft of the new Constitution, in which the Rejection triumphed with 61.86%, so for the moment the 1980 Constitution established in the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet remains in force.
Despite the rejection of the proposal written by the Constitutional Convention, the Government has promoted the dialogue to give continuity to the constituent process, a conversation that both the ruling party and the opposition have been willing to carry out, in order to change the current Constitution.
