White smoke came out of the meeting held by President Gabriel Boric with the heads of both chambers of Congress and the presidents of the parties with parliamentary representation. This, because it was agreed at the meeting that tomorrow, Wednesday, the meetings between legislators and parties will begin to advance in an agreement towards a new Constitution.
Upon leaving the instance, the president of the Senate, Álvaro Elizalde (PS), said that “we have decided to set a date for the call for inclusive, inclusive dialogue with all the actors, so that the National Congress establishes an itinerary and a path to advance in the desire for a Constitution born in democracy”.
Thus, he reported that “tomorrow (Wednesday), at 3:00 p.m., in the Senate, the first meeting will be held in which we are going to invite the party presidents and the party leaders. This is a call that we make together with the Chamber of Deputies”.
In the instance that starts tomorrow, parliamentarians from the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will participate. In addition, they will seek to install instances of dialogue to learn about the positions of civil society.
“This process seems fundamental to us to establish an agreement that gives the country certainty regarding how this process is going to continue, with clear deadlines, with clear procedures and with the desire that the Chilean citizens be the protagonists of the elaboration of the new Constitutional text,” he added.
“We have a challenge as a country that goes beyond a particular political sector, and that is related to the need to establish a constitutional framework, a constitutional pact with transversal support, that regulates future coexistence in our country and that provides tools to have a high standard democracy and respond to the desires of the citizenry”, he concluded.
An “important” milestone
Another of those who spoke at the exit was the president of the Lower House, Raúl Soto (PPD), who described the meeting as “a tremendously important milestone for Chile and that opens a door of hope for us regarding the real possibility of reaching a political and social consensus to enable a new constituent process”.
In this sense, he added that this agreement provides an opportunity to start this process “in a good way, correcting the mistakes of the past and that at the end of the road we can tell the country that hopefully we will achieve a constitutional text that attracts the majority support of the people of Chili. I believe that this is the basis for having a good social pact that sets the rules of democratic coexistence for the coming decades in Chile and the clock starts ticking tomorrow at 3 in the afternoon”.
“I believe that we have all assumed the political responsibility for the historical moment that we have to lead to give certainty to the country and carry out a good process, so as not to screw up this second opportunity, which will probably be the last,” he added.
Opposition also participated
Chile Vamos also came to the meeting with the President, after first announcing that they were not going to attend, but after speaking with the new Segpres minister, Ana Lya Uriarte, they changed their minds.
At the exit, the representatives of the center-right were in favor of the call made by the Legislative.
The president of the UDI, Javier Macaya, affirmed that “we are willing to dialogue. No one can be subtracted. We had important differences with some interlocutors, but these have already been saved. The signal that we have to deliver to Chile is that the political class is up to the challenges facing the country.”
Meanwhile, the helmsman of Evópoli, Luz Poblete, assured when leaving the meeting that “we have ratified our commitment to a new and good Constitution. Beyond the differences, we do have something in common: that we all want to advance in a new Constitution”.
The senator and president of RN, Francisco Chahuán, in addition to requesting that the terms “be short”, ratified “our constituent commitment, which the parties of Chile Vamos will fulfill. We have had a meeting with President Boric and the minister (Segpres) Ana Lya Uriarte to address social pain and carry out projects on pensions, decent health for people and security”.
Along the same lines, he stated that “the President must have a sense of reality and understand that he has a minority in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies, and that dialogue must prevail in order to move forward. We believe that it is a positive sign that he has withdrawn the appointment of the deputy secretary of the interior and we thank him. Ana Lya Uriarte is going to ensure dialogue with Parliament on the issues that really matter”.
