In the midst of a controversy over the Government’s dismissal in the Exit Plebiscite, the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency (Segpres), Giorgio Jackson, addressed the future of the country and the holding of a new constitutional convention, in the event of that the Rejection be imposed on September 4. The Secretary of State said that the possible new conventions “have to be dedicated and elected people to be able to write a new proposal.”
More than 15 million Chileans are called to the polls to decide whether they want to approve the new Constitution or maintain the current one, inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and partially reformed in democracy. The Government’s commitment is that, whatever happens, a new constituent process will be promoted.
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The head of the Segpres emphasized that “a formula will have to be agreed upon with the National Congress, but there are less and less doubts in a transversal way that this has to be a call for a new process.” And he added that those who integrate it “have to be dedicated and elected people to be able to draft a new proposal in the event that the Rejection comes out.”
President Gabriel Boric, for his part, appealed for “unity”, two weeks before Chileans approve or reject the proposed new Constitution at the polls in one of the most crucial and polarized votes since the end of the dictatorship.
Liberator Bernardo O’Higgins’ commitment “to work tirelessly for the country, for the unity of the country, is something that we have to rescue at this time when there is division,” assured the president from the south, at the commemoration of the birth of the man who is considered one of the “fathers of the Nation”.
“It is in the unity of Chile where the best of Chileans and Chileans and the best of our country comes out,” added Boric.
The latest polls published on Thursday, when the ban on disclosing surveys began, revealed that the tendency to reject the text continues, with a difference of more than 10 points.
This time the vote is mandatory, unlike the October 2020 plebiscite, when it was voluntary and the option of drafting a new constitution won by almost 80%, with more than half of the electoral roll.
Analysts warn that there is an unpredictable bag of voters, who have not gone to the polls since 2012, when the vote became voluntary.
The right and part of the center-left will vote against finding the new text “radical”, while the left is campaigning in favor of “Approve”, although it has promised to reach a great pact to reform the most conflictive aspects, some negotiations led by Boric himself.
Before participating in O’Higgins’s birthday, the president gave an interview on Radio Macarena de Chillán, and reiterated his commitment to “reform” the new text if it ends up being approved.
“I am going to consider it from a position of humility. There cannot be winners and losers,” he assured.
The new norm declares Chile a social State of law, compared to the secondary State of the current text, and enshrines rights such as public and universal health, free education, better pensions and access to housing and water.
The multinational character of the State, presidential re-election, the justice system and the elimination of the Senate are some of the issues included in the text that generate the most controversy.
