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(CNN Spanish) - The Chilean Congress reached an agreement this morning to draft a new Constitution and achieve peace in the country.
According to Jaime Quintana, president of the Senate, a referendum will be held in April 2020 with two questions.
Citizens will be asked if they "approve or reject" a new constitution and "what kind of body should write the new constitution."
According to the decision offered by the plebiscitary consultation, together with the regional elections of October 2020, the members of the Constitutional Convention will be elected under universal suffrage.
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The other option would be a Constitutional Joint Convention that would add (in equal parts) to elected members, parliamentarians in office.
According to Quintana, the constituent body will only "have the purpose of drafting the new constitution" and the process will be dissolved. Those who are candidates for integration must resign from any public office and will be disabled from public service for one year after completing their work. The New Fundamental Letter of Chile, when drafted, will be submitted to a ratification plebiscite “with mandatory universal suffrage”.
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According to the president of the Chilean Senate, this agreement seeks a “peaceful and democratic way out of the crisis, to build a true social contract and that has been possible thanks to the citizens who have been mobilized” and said that the offer is to make a "100% democratic constitution" in reference to the current constitution that was written and approved in 1980, under the regime of Augusto Pinochet.
The agreement reached establishes “the restoration of peace and public order” without forgetting the respect for human rights and the institutionality of the country.