May 7, 2023, 9:56 PM
May 7, 2023, 9:56 PM
The Republican Party is the clear winner of this Sunday’s elections to the Constitutional Council of Chile, with more than 95% of the votes counted.
The formation of José Antonio Kast, the candidate of the radical right who lost the 2021 presidential elections against the current leader of the country Gabriel Boric, monopolizes more than 35% of the votesaccording to data from the Chilean Electoral Service (Servel).
With that, will provide 22 of the 51 directors (50 candidates from the political parties and one from the indigenous peoples) who will have the task of drafting a new Constitution in the remainder of the year.
Boric’s left-wing coalition, Unity for Chile, won 28% of the votes and 17 directorsless than the 21 that would have given him the right to veto in the process of drafting the Magna Carta.
The conservative Chile Seguro group obtained 21.5% of the ballots and would secure the remaining 11 councillors, while the alliances Todo por Chile and Partido de la Gente -center-left and liberal, respectively- would remain without representation, according to the provisional results. .
The right-wing and center-right coalitions add 34 councilors, which would give them broad autonomy to draft the Magna Carta which will be submitted to a plebiscite to replace the current one of 1980.
In addition, the victory of the ultra-right party is considered especially symbolic, at a time when the popularity of the Boric government is at a low point.
He highlighted the large number of null and blank votes, which exceeded 2.2 million, more than 21% of the total.
The election was carried out at 38,665 polling stations distributed in 2,932 polling places throughout Chile.
The 50 members of the Council must draft a new proposal for a Constitution to replace the one promulgated during the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet.
This is the second attempt, since in September of last year the voters discarded a first proposal with 62% voting against.
That constitutional text had been drafted by a committee dominated by representatives of the left and independents, which forced a reconsideration of the strategy to carry out a new Magna Carta.
Kast appeared in Santiago de Chile before his supporters, to whom he dedicated the “triumph” of his party.
He assured that this Sunday’s victory is “a strong and clear sign of the course that (Chileans) want for our country.”
Despite this, he remarked that “there is nothing to celebrate, because Chile is not well” and alluded to economic and security problems that affect the country.
Boric, for his part, acknowledged the defeat that, he assured, “was marked by the security and migration crisis that have penetrated deeply into the spirit of our compatriots”.
The president invited the right-wing parties that will lead the new constituent commission to “achieve great agreements for our homeland.”
The new Constituent Council
As established, the Council elected today has 50 members with an equal distribution: 25 men and 25 womenin addition to the indigenous representative.
The 50 members elected this Sunday must draft the Magna Carta proposal based on a draft drawn up by a committee of 24 experts who were appointed by the lower house and the Senate.
10.4 million (68%) of the more than 15.1 million citizens who were called to vote went to the polls.
voting was compulsory and not exercising it could lead to penalties of up to US$226.
More than 100,000 Chileans presented justifications for not going to the polls -for example, being far from the voting center- and avoiding being fined, according to the police.
Election day passed calmly, although there were some unfortunate incidents.
At the commune’s police sub-station, in the La Araucanía region, some hooded men fired four bullets while the vote was taking place, although without causing any personal injury.
Before, first thing in the morning, a woman who worked as a board member in the Galvarino commune died suddenly due to respiratory arrest.
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