The militants of the Christian Democracy (DC) and former members of the “Group of 13” who stepped aside from the majority line of the party by condemning the coup against Salvador Allende, published a statement in which they expressed their support for the Rejection option in the exit plebiscite on September 4.
Through the brief, Belisario Velasco, Baldemar Carrasco and Jorge Donoso, as well as former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, senators Ximena Rincón and Matías Walker, and former conventionalist Fuad Chahin, distanced themselves from the institutional decision for the Approval adopted by the National Board of the party.
You may also like:
The former members of the historic group of the DC recognize that they were “decided opponents of the Constitution of the dictatorship, fraudulently approved in 1980, (…) we support the numerous changes made (…) in pursuit of strengthening democracy and tolerance in our homeland. Consequently, we enthusiastically support and vote favorably in the October 2020 plebiscite, hoping to have a new Constitution”. And they hoped that the new Magna Carta would enshrine “universally recognized fundamental rights and a political system that would allow those who were given that mandate by the popular will to govern, with respect for the rights of the opposition and minorities.”
“We wanted to strengthen a republican, democratic and unitary Chile, with a Constitution that unites all Chileans. However, the text approved by the Constitutional Convention, although it enshrines social rights and addresses some of the main concerns of citizens, (…) it contains articles that seriously undermine those values and principles that we have always defended,” explain Velasco, Carrasco and Donoso, in the letter.
They lambaste that the proposed new Constitution “establishes a political system that ends a long tradition of our democratic system, which is based on the independence and collaboration of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers.” And they criticize that “as far as the Executive Branch is concerned, the President of the Republic will lack exclusive initiative for bills relating to public spending and pension matters, a rule introduced into the Constitution by President Frei Montalva; and in matter of public security, in states of constitutional exception it eliminates the state of emergency”.
Regarding the Legislative Power, they affirm that “the necessary counterweight will not exist for the formation of laws with two chambers of similar attributions, since there is no symmetry between the Congress of Deputies and the so-called Chamber of the Regions”, given the “Unexplained Senate Elimination”. And regarding the Judiciary, the Christian Democrat militants question that “it also disappears and the National Justice Systems are created, separating the ordinary courts from those of native peoples, in which the jurisdictional power is handed over to authorities of that ethnic group.”
Additionally, they question, “a Council of Justice is created with broad powers, in which the judges are a minority. It is made up of 17 people, including two representatives of the original peoples and five elected by Congress, which opens the possibility of interference of other actors in the attributions of the Judicial Power”.
On the other hand, they state that “the electoral system is distorted with reserved seats, which reminds us of the institutional (appointed) senators of the Pinochet Constitution.”
“These are some of the provisions that lead us to categorically reject, in conscience, the Constitution proposed by the Constituent Convention and that will be plebiscitated on September 4. We believe that Chile needs a democratic, inclusive and respectful Constitution that guarantees unity , dignity and equal justice for all, for the common good and the development of our future generations,” the letter concludes.
Group of 13 and new constitution by The counter on Scribd
