The political analyst Ernesto Ottone, one of the outstanding thinkers of the historical concertacionismo, hinted at his option to vote for Rejection since, in his opinion, the vices of the constitutional proposal outnumber and transcend its virtues, while expressing his conviction that the drafting of a new text is more plausible from the repudiation of the proposal made by the Convention, because -he assured- he notices a genuine will on the right to promote changes in the institutional framework.
“From a standpoint of just studying the scenarios, pragmatically: I think it’s easier… it’s not that it’s impossible to do it in the Approval case, but I think it’s easier to do it with the Reject win,” he said. analyst linked to laguism in an interview with La Tercera. “I think it is easier, because there will be a certain obligation to do it, since you cannot go back to the previous Constitution. There will be an obligation to sit down and talk”, added the sociologist and doctor in Political Science.
Ottone also argued that “the President of the Republic (Gabriel Boric) is going to have to play the role of a statesman and, therefore, he is going to acquire a certain autonomy from the pressures of his own.” Asked about the confidence that his perspective encourages, Ottone declared that “there are changes on the right.”
“For example, something that is not a tradition in Chile, has emerged from a right-wing intelligentsia, but which is very free in its opinions, expressions. And they have contradictions with more traditional right-wing politicians, so to speak. It is something that can encourage a reflection of the Chilean right towards becoming a European republican right, to that sector that is a right that can govern, but that is not going to change the Welfare State”, he affirmed.
However, Ottone conceded that “there are historical reasons to be very suspicious of that, but I think that not so much out of merit, but out of necessity – because the right is weakened – they are going to have to take steps towards what was previously unacceptable.”
The analyst expressed his concern about the content of the constitutional proposal since, in his opinion, it can pave the way for authoritarian projects. “It can make way for an embryo. A combination of a democratic Constitution and a partisan political process”, Ottone pointed out regarding his description of the text proposed to the citizens.
“I think it is a text where the problems it has outweigh the virtues. It is my opinion. So, it is desirable that there be a modification of this project, that it be a substantive modification, a modification also in the form, etc., that takes the virtues that it has, and that also unites them with a different reflection, with a reflection that allows Chile has a fully democratic Constitution, originally democratic, that is progressive in a broad sense, that allows for different governments. I believe that this is not achieved in the text”, added the sociologist.
