They bet against the current and they were right. The so-called Center-Left for Rejection and Amarillos for Chile opted for an option criticized by the rest of the Center-Left, and were victorious.
Those who are today in the rostrum of the winners were the so-called “unruly ones”, on whom there were even threats of expulsion from the parties, or suspension of militancy, as in fact happened to Carlos Maldonado, who was marginalized by the board of directors of the Radical Party. Along with him, the most emblematic faces of this sector are those of Ximena Rincón, Ignacio and Matías Walker, Fuad Chahin (DC) and Cristian Warnken, leader of Amarillos por Chile. All of them dodged darts, criticism and exit requests from their parties –in the case of the militants–, throughout the electoral process, and remained stoic, for which they rightfully celebrated yesterday after hearing the results. Even by the way they celebrate and sing the national anthem, it could be inferred that the victory had an air of revenge.
The first images showed an effusive Rincón giving Maldonado high fives high-fives, both sitting in the front row, while Chahin smiled a bit further back. On the side of Amarillos por Chile, Warnken celebrated, although he avoided claiming any responsibility for the triumph of the Rejection and that rather he was a concerned citizen like so many others.
“The citizens spoke out in a resounding and forceful way, in one of the most important moments in the history of our country in recent decades. From Arica to Magallanes, people spoke, the Rejection has won, it has been imposed clearly and resoundingly. in our country, because Chileans want a new Constitution, a good and new Constitution,” said Rincón, once the victory was complete.
Along the same lines, Walker urged agreements for a new constitutional proposal. “The center-left for the future is going to bring together all those people, movements, that dare to say that this was a bad proposal and that we want to build a proposal that makes sense to the vast majority of people, to build a country in peace without violence, without attack on social media,” he said. “Chile has given a lesson that it wants agreements and we are available, just as we did on November 15 (2019), to build great agreements,” she added.
Chahin, who was also at that celebration, risked it for a union of Chileans to leave “the conflicts” behind. “We never proposed the triumph of Rejection to stay where we are, but rather to give Chile a new Constitution that allows us to make a leap towards human and fair development towards the future,” he pointed out.
“Now we have a great responsibility, which is to give Chile, in a short and austere process, a new Constitution. And a different Constitution that unites us, that allows us to guarantee social rights, but with prosperity,” he added.
On the front page was Maldonado, who celebrated that Chile spoke “clearly, without any doubt, loud and clear, that it wants a new Constitution, but does not want this one, which had major defects.”
That is why he called for “going forward, giving yourself a new opportunity and that is why we worked with great effort for a long time, explaining that Chile needed something better than the text proposed by the Constitutional Convention, and in that effort we will continue forward, because we are fully committed, without any doubt, without any fissure, without any weakness to provide Chile with a new Constitution”.
On the less political side of the celebration, the writer and academic Cristián Warnken affirmed that “arrogance has been defeated today. We receive this categorical triumph with humility and we receive our colleagues from the Approval, we receive them with open arms.”
“Thank you very much, people of Chile. Your wisdom is what has given us enough signs for several years. Now it is the political class that has to live up to what the people of Chile are saying,” he concluded.
major challenges
But the taste of triumph is accompanied by greater challenges. Many of those who now celebrate having promoted the option that the vast majority of Chileans supported, have tied their political capital to the decision that the right-wing parties are going to make this September 5, especially Chile Vamos.
Precisely for this reason, the senators of the Christian Democracy (DC), Ximena Rincón and Matías Walker, together with others, presented an initiative -on August 2- that gives a period of 15 days, from the day of the Rejection, to the President of the Republic to send a project that defines how to continue towards a new Fundamental Charter.
The academic from the University of Talca and doctor in Political Science, Mauricio Morales, assured a few days ago to The counter that, in the event that “the right does not give way to the election of a Constitutional Convention or that it blocks the process with a new plebiscite, it clearly leaves that center-left of Rejection in a bad position in the face of public opinion.”
The director of Tú Influyes, Axel Callís, warned of a latent danger: “If the Rejection gets 60%, I think the right is not going to be in a hurry to make a new Constitutional Convention viable,” he said on the same occasion to this medium.
The bridges
Apart from these challenges, the center-left that appears to be the winner also has the mission of serving as a bridge between the right of Chile Vamos, Socialismo Democrático and Apurebo Dignidad.
Important links, by the way, since the message shared by all is that the constitutional proposal was bad, but the end remains intact: the country needs a new, more modern Constitution that leaves the 1980s behind. That is to say, they will be in charge to enforce the commitments expressed by the right, regarding that they will continue with the constituent process. That was the message during the campaign and they, as capitalizers of the triumph of the Rejection, will not want to lose this momentum.
The task will take place mainly in Congress, so Rincón and Walker will play at home. But it is not the only field. The toughest rivals will be those from the same coalition, the Christian Democracy in particular, and other official bodies, such as I Approve Dignity and Democratic Socialism, who see them as the “black sheep” after supporting the Rejection, ignoring what was decreed by the DC National Board. With them they will have to iron out rough edges in order to channel the new constituent process that is beginning. The second time.
