President Gabriel Boric, 37, promised ambitious social reforms and rose to power last year on a wave of optimism fueled by hopes over a new progressive constitution.īut the former student protest leader has not been as involved in the push for a new overhaul. The coronavirus pandemic, rising crime, a slowing economy and stubbornly high inflation are more top of mind for most Chileans. Public support for the reworked process has waned, after mass protests that started in late 2019 and went on for months provided the political impetus to initiate the push for a constitutional rewrite. The first process was dominated by leftists and independents, while this one is guided by 12 institutional principles that lawmakers agreed to. It also includes the expert commission, a technical body acting as arbitrator, and fewer assembly members, equivalent to a third of the dissolved constitutional assembly whose project voters rejected in the plebiscite. The new attempt has a shorter time frame. He stressed that traditional political forces are now more in control of the process, unlike the failed first attempt. It is a more supervised process, with monitoring bodies, experts, lawyers, elected representatives,' said political analyst Kenneth Bunker.

'If the first process was highly uncertain, this is much more certain. 'I voted to approve (in September), I wanted a new constitution and to get rid of the dictatorship's constitution, but now I'm not really interested.'įollowing Sunday's election, voters will then head to the polls in December to approve or reject the proposed document, widely expected to be more moderate than the first proposal which would have been one of the world's most progressive constitutions. 'I'm a little tired of the polarization,' said 31-year-old Paz Villafana, who runs a small publishing firm.

The so-called Constitutional Council that voters are set to elect will work as of June on the new constitution, based on a preliminary draft prepared by a commission of 24 experts that Congress appointed in March.īut some of the 15 million eligible voters shrug when asked about the do-over after the failed push last year to rewrite the constitution, which dates back decades to the era of right-wing military dictator Augusto Pinochet. SANTIAGO, May 5 (Reuters) - Chileans will vote to elect 50 constitutional advisers on Sunday, a major step towards rewriting the constitution, after voters overwhelmingly rejected a first attempt in a plebiscite last September to replace the dictatorship-era charter.

Fruit party big win