Most of the population celebrated the triumph of the ‘no’ in the streets. /
A referendum with the highest turnout since the return to democracy shows a resounding rejection and evidences a step back from progressivism
With a historical participation of 85%, the highest since the return to democracy, Chile expressed a resounding “rejection” (61.9%) of the draft of a new Constitution. For the conservative right, the great defeat in last year’s presidential elections is a landslide victory and a revenge. Many international analysts even believe that the result of the plebiscite puts the government of Gabriel Boric on the ropes, while from the left the toughest was the newly elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who wrote: “Pinochet revived.”
But for the progressive Chilean president, it was a victory for the people: “This September 4, democracy is more robust,” Boric said as soon as he learned of the official results, in which the “I approve” option only obtained 38.14% of the votes. votes. Quite a step back in the intentions of progressivism.
To calm down the crisis a bit, Boric received the president of the Senate, Álvaro Elizalde, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Soto, first thing Monday morning at the Palacio de la Moneda, with the sole objective of getting to work immediately to create a new constituent project. The president tried to iron out the stumble and preferred to talk about dialogue: “This decision requires our institutions and political actors to work harder, more dialogue, respect and affection, until we arrive at a proposal that interprets us all.” Aware of the division of the country and that the road to recompose coexistence will be difficult, Boric invited all citizens to leave behind maximalisms, violence and intolerance.
“The people’s voice”
“You have to listen to the voice of the people. Let’s not forget why we got here. That discomfort is still latent and we cannot ignore it », she said, adding that « we cannot let time pass and get involved in endless controversies ». And he recognized that Chile lives among injustices, abuses and inequalities “that must be faced, we cannot deny or hide them.”
Knowing the data from the surveys, Boric already perceived what was coming and promised to continue fighting, regardless of the result of the plebiscite, to provide Chile with a new Constitution that replaces the current one that dates from 1980 and was drawn up during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
According to the opposition, led by José Antonio Kast, President Boric is obliged after the defeat in the plebiscite to make profound changes in his Cabinet. On his Twitter account, the right-wing politician wrote: “Chile is a great nation and after tonight, a freer country with more hope,” to which he added a hashtag that read: # Let’s Recover Chile.
Other analysts demand that Boric listen to the other part of a divided country and take charge of the fears of those who voted for the ‘rejection’, for fear of a constitutional project that they considered conflictive. In the refusal of the text prepared by a constitutional convention for a year, which reflected a more inclusive proposal with greater social rights, according to several Chilean politicians, fear, skepticism and mistrust in a new Magna Carta that also contemplated profound changes considered of great risk for a population that lives an inflation of 13% and in an increasingly strong insecurity.
The ‘social outbreak’ of 2019
The Chilean brake on change does not agree at all with the movements that emerged in October 2019 and which was called the ‘social outbreak’. Chile took to the streets of all its cities to demonstrate violently for a rise in transportation and the result of those protests left a balance of 32 dead, 8,812 detained and more than 12,000 injured. After that, 68% of the population voted ‘yes’ to the elaboration of a new Constitution.
Today nobody dares to diagnose what will happen after the wide difference achieved by the ‘no’ and in a scenario with greater uncertainty. Boric has promised that he will follow the constitutional process, but for this he will have to find a great agreement with the political parties and especially looking for a formula that satisfies the right and does not prolong tensions. There are those who believe that the best thing would be for the reforms of the Constitution to be made from Congress, but what very few consider will be contemplated again and of what Chile seemed to boast of being a unique country in the world – a constitutional convention made up of equal number of men and women – will not be repeated.
The demand for Boric by the opposition is that he change the Cabinet, negotiate with Congress and modify his alliance policies. In this sense, some sources pointed to Izkia Siches, Minister of the Interior and Public Security, and Giorgio Jackson, who occupies the General Secretary of the Presidency, as the first ministers to leave the Government six months after taking office. With what is shown that the result of the plebiscite has punished not only the errors and internal fights of the convention, but also the Government of Gabriel Boric.
The indigenous people voted ‘no’ because their rights were not recognized
The ‘rejection’ of the new Constitution project was especially clear in the communes with an indigenous majority and the Mapuche organizations, which celebrated the result because they disagreed with the text that proposed recognizing the plurinational character of Chile precisely to give more powers to minorities. .
According to definitive data from the Electoral Service (Servel), the ‘rejection’ was clearly imposed in communes such as Alto Biobío –70.75% of votes–, Saavedra –68.05%– or Cholchol –73.82–. The ‘no’ also won in communes with an indigenous majority such as Tirúa, Galvarino, Camiña, Colchane, San Juan de la Costa or General Lagos, according to what was reported yesterday by the newspaper ‘El Mercurio’.
“As people from indigenous peoples who campaigned for the option of rejection, we expected the result that we already know today. Because we knew how our Mapuche people are, we had publicly predicted that the ‘rejection’ option would win by 60%,” said the president of the Mapuche Enama Professionals Corporation, Hugo Alcamán, in statements to the newspaper ‘Araucanía Diario’.
For Alcamán, “Chile needs a new Constitution where we indigenous peoples are included, but in a responsible way.” For this reason, he defended that the next text “unites us as Chileans with all of us who live in our beautiful country and incorporates our recognition and legitimate indigenous rights.”
During the voting day itself, there were some incidents in the Araucanía area, such as roadblocks or an attack on a high-voltage tower.
A statement from the armed group Coordinator of Communities in Conflict Arauco-Malleco (CAM) was also released over the weekend, in which it called for “remain on a war footing before the Chilean State” and denounced the detention of Mapuches for his activism against the Chilean “racist and colonialist state”.
