“It’s the time for the truth”

“It is the moment of truth, with the articles in hand”, said this Monday the president of Chili, Gabriel Boricupon receiving the new Constitutionwhich will be voted on plebiscite the next 4th of September. “Once again it will be the people who will have the last word on their destiny,” said the 36-year-old president. “Plebiscite It is not and should not be a trial of the Government, is the debate about future for the coming decades: let’s debate with that high vision”, he added, clearly alluding to the polls according to which the ‘No’ to the text drafted over almost a year by the conventionalists, and of a markedly progressive. The latest Pulse Citizen poll reports that the rejection of the Magna Carta of 388 articles and 57 transitory regulations would obtain 44% of the votes, against 25% of the ‘yes’ vote. Other opinion studies narrow the differences. In a few days the electoral campaign will begin, which will be decisive. Boric has asked “not to disqualify those who think differently.”

“We were entrusted with writing this text, and today with great humility and satisfaction we offer it, meeting all the established deadlines. We know that it can be perfected, and we hope that it will be the minimum floor of a more equitable societyfounded on strong ethical foundations”, stated María Elisa Quinteros, the main authority of the Convention, when handing over the draft to the Head of State. Boric has invited the public to discuss it “intensely”, without “falsehoods, distortions or catastrophic interpretations alien to reality”. A recent survey by the Association of Municipalities of Chile (Amuch) found that 56.4% of those consulted have not read the project. A good part of the citizenry has been informed by the comments in the social networks where prevail the fake news and the disqualifications that the promoters of the constitutional changes attribute to powerhouses of a right that has not had the power to veto in the Assembly.

The Magna Carta includes important novelties on the functioning of the State, which is defined as a “Democratic Republic” Y “multinational”incorporates rights related to the environment, the use of water and gender parity. In turn, it ensures the conditions for the interruption of pregnancy, pensions and the health of citizens. “Dedramatizing, the text it is not a refoundation that liquidates Chile, as some present it; nor is it the creation of a new revolutionary order, as perhaps others thought. In short, it is a proposal regarding the rights that the State must protect, together with a new form of government”, considers analyst Gabriel Gaspar.

🔴 #ConventionxCNN | President Boric: “Beyond the legitimate differences, there is something in which we all have to be proud: at the moment of the deepest crisis that our country has experienced in decades, we opted for more democracy”

📡 https://t.co/gzbexhwyUi pic.twitter.com/Hwl6SZ8OFx

– CNN Chile (@CNNChile) July 4, 2022

The paradox

Arturo Zuñiga, of the far-right Independent Democratic Union (UDI), maintains that this constitution “does not unite the country” because it is “a radical proposal“. Days of disputes are coming in the public space, the media and the networks. If the “Approval” is imposed, the construction of the political system proposed in the Magna Carta will begin. The transition would take years. But, in the event of the opposite happening, as the polls predict for now, Chile would face a paradoxical situation: in the heat of the social outbreak of 2019, 80% of the population approved reforming the Constitution in a plebiscite. A part of those Chileans has decided in the 359 days of work of the Assembly to turn its back on these changes and prefer, in fact, to maintain the text drafted during the last military dictatorship. That Charter of 1980 was amended twice, with different levels of depth, but without modifying the matrix inherited from the era of General Augusto Pinochet.

dangers on the horizon

Related news

“Beyond the legitimate differences over the text, there is something we all have to be proud of. That at the moment of the deepest crisis that our country has experienced in a decade, we Chileans opt for more democracy,” Boric said. about the way in which society sought to put out the fire of the outbreak on the basis of the constitutional reform. “A lot has had to happen, many sacrifices of lives to be able to discuss a Constitution that is born of a democratic debate.” The president’s popularity has experienced a rise for the first time after months of deterioration, since his inauguration on March 11. Approval went from 36% to 44%. The improvement is related to the implementation of a social calendar which includes tax reform, pensions and a housing policy.

Camilo Escalona, ​​the general secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), which is part of the government coalition, has warned of the danger represented by the defeat of the “I Approve”. In his opinion, “the hardest sectors of the right they are going to say that they have had a political victory that ratifies the institutional framework and they are not going to want to modify anything at all”. which was delivered to Boric this Monday “will remain as another link, albeit the most important, in a chain that we have not been able to complete successfully in a period of more than 30 years.”