Although the constitutional proposal was crushed in the Sunday plebiscite, the process continues. President Gabriel Boric invited the heads of both houses of Congress. Also, on Sept. 6, party leaders met in the presidential palace to discuss a new Constitution.
Once President Gabriel Boric was done with his cabinet reshuffle on Sept. 6, he invited the leaders of all political parties to government palace La Moneda and discuss a new constitutional process. He met Lower House leader Raúl Soto (PPD) and Senate president Álvaro Elizalde (Socialist Party) early on Sept. 5 to prepare the talks.
The right-wing opposition did not agree immediately, however. National Renewal president Francisco Chahuán said his party would not participate because it opposed a communist being appointed to the interior ministry. Boric backpedaled immediately, after which National Renewal, Evópoli, and Independent Democratic Union agreed to attend. The Republican Party did not go, however.
An important milestone
Participants left optimistic. News site El Mostrador quoted Soto as saying that the meeting was “a tremendously important milestone for Chile and that opens a gate of hope in regards to the real possibility of achieving a political and social consensus to build a new constitutional process.” Evópoli leader Luz Poblete said, “beyond our differences, we do have something in common: we all want to move forward on a new Constitution.”
Everyone agreed the process must be discussed in the offices of Congress.
Moreover, a meeting in the Senate was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Local media reported the new chief-of-staff, Ana Lya Uriarte, and even the Republican Party agreed to participate.
The objective is to form a technical committee to help create the constitutional process, which is expected to start and end in 2023.
Catalina Vergara is graduated in Social Communications from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She has previously worked on Strategic Communications.