The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

OPINION | Chile must advance the elections for a new president to lead the constituent process | CNN

2020-10-30T23:51:06.032Z


What was voted on October 25 is exactly the opposite of what Piñera wants - says Pedro Brieger -: a Constituent Convention to draft a new constitution and definitively eliminate the one inherited from the dictatorship. | Opinion | CNN


Editor's note:

 Pedro Brieger is an Argentine journalist and sociologist, author of several books on international issues and contributor to publications in different countries.

He is a professor of Sociology at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

He is the director of Nodal, a portal dedicated to news from Latin America and the Caribbean.

He is a TV columnist for the Argentine channel C5N, in the program “En la frontera” of Público TV (Spain) and in programs of the Argentine stations Radio 10, La Red, La Tribu and LT9-Santa Fe. Brieger has won important awards for his informative work on radio and television in Argentina.

His Twitter account is 

@PedroBriegerOk

.

The opinions expressed in this column belong exclusively to the author.

See more op-ed articles at CNNE.com/opinion.

(CNN Spanish) -

The shocking triumph in favor of a new Constitution in Chile in the plebiscite of October 25, has once again displaced President Sebastián Piñera, who still seems not to be able to recover from the social outbreak of October 2019. At that time he could not gauge the depth of the protest and was always behind the events.

Much has happened in just one year.

If at first, after the outbreak, Piñera said that he was "at war against a powerful and implacable enemy", once the result of the plebiscite was known, the president of Chile tried to appropriate the process when he stated that "a Constitution never part from zero, because it represents the meeting of generations.

It must always collect the inheritance of the generations that preceded us.

This phrase marks a continuity with the 2018-2022 government program of the Chile Vamos coalition that brought him to power, because there it was also said that it advocates the "improvement" of the constitutional text and for a "progressive reform" of "a perfectible text ”.

However, what was voted on October 25 is exactly the opposite of what Piñera wants: a Constituent Convention to draft a new constitution and definitively eliminate the one inherited from the dictatorship.

Weakened and pressured by the incessant and gigantic mobilizations, the president had to enact a reform to the Magna Carta to

call a plebiscite and let the population decide if they wanted a new one to be drawn up.

In the largest vote in the history of Chile in absolute numbers, 78.2% of those who participated in the election - in a country where voting is voluntary - expressed their favor, leaving the government in a situation of extreme weakness, leading a process to which it opposes.

In April 2021, the people who will form the Constituent Convention will be voted on to draft a new Constitution within one year.

As none of this was foreseen, another political problem is added, because in November - according to the electoral schedule established previously - Chile should elect a new president.

If the Convention is a first step to move towards the new Constitution, it is clear that Piñera cannot be part of the process.

One way to get out of the labyrinth is to bring forward the presidential election to elect members and president on the same day, and let whoever assumes… lead the process.

Constitution

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-10-30

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-24T22:04:33.642Z
News/Politics 2024-02-07T05:24:38.310Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.