The President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, referred to the declaration of former President Ricardo Lagos in view of the exit plebiscite for a new Constitution on September 4.
“It seems to me that what the former president points out is very respectable given his career and that he puts forward two scenarios that are quite clear to me.”
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It should be remembered that in his letter, Lagos maintained the suspense regarding the option he will choose, but he did assure that neither the proposal of the Convention, nor the current Magna Carta, generate consensus among citizens.
“Chile needs and deserves a Constitution that arouses consensus and that, sooner rather than later, allows us to stop debating about it in order to coexist within it. And because neither of the two texts that may result from the September 4 plebiscite is in conditions to achieve it, I am convinced that the relevant political challenge is to find a way to address the continuity of the constitutional debate until reaching a text capable of arousing a high degree of citizen acceptance,” said Lagos.
Given this, President Boric addressed the statements of former President Lagos, stating that he is open to “making improvements” to the proposed new Constitution if it is approved, taking advantage of criticizing the right in case the Rejection option wins.
“If the Constitution is approved, improvements must be made, as the president of the Convention pointed out yesterday, as Gaspar Domínguez pointed out, myself as President of the Republic, I agree that this provision must be made,” he said.
“In the other option, that the Rejection wins, it is necessary to depend on the historical veto that the right has had in the last 30 years to make substantive reforms to the Constitution,” he said.
In this sense, the head of state affirmed that “it is the people who will have to decide. Both options are legitimate. Our role as a government is that all Chileans vote informed. And hopefully there will be a debate with high-mindedness.”
Along the same lines, the President reiterated the criticism of the opposition, assuring that “in one case it will be necessary to depend, I insist, on the historical veto that the right has exercised, where some parliamentarians and some of their leaders have already said that they do not they believe in a new Constitution. And in the other, reforms can be made that improve the text, as I have seen in the disposition of the majority of political actors”
“President Lagos has every right to submit the position he deems appropriate,” concluded the President.
