As of January this year, the Constitutional Convention of Chile entered the stage where you should start discussing the issues that will be included in the Carta Magna.
With a maximum term that cannot pass July of this year -although there are some constituents who want to request an extension- those in charge of drafting the new Constitution received almost 4,000 thousand constitutional proposals through the platform called “popular initiative of norm”.
This mechanism allows a person or a group to submit a proposal to the Convention that could eventually be incorporated into the new Constitution. But to be analyzed, the proposals must be accompanied by the support of at least 15,000 signatures.
According to the latest report of the Convention, Chilean citizens presented 3,876 initiatives for the new Constitution that will replace the one prepared by the dictator Auguto Pinochet. Of these, only 1,522 were admitted by the Popular Participation Secretariat, while the rest were rejected, declared inadmissible or irrelevant.
But, at the moment, only nine managed to exceed the 15,000 signatures required to enter the Constitutional Convention. These articles deal with issues present in public debate for Chileans, but which have also been taken to the Legislature in recent years: termination of pregnancy, education, cannabis, religious freedom, mining, and pension reform.
The next step will be for them to go to a commission where it will be discussed and voted on. If it reaches the simple majority, the proposal will go to the plenary session, where it will need the support of two thirds of the 155 members to be approved.
In addition to receiving the popular initiatives, the elected constituents will send their own regulations that will be put to the vote. On this, some blocks have already advanced proposals on the fight against political corruption and the reform of the Legislative Power to a unicameral system.
The pension savings
One of the most voted initiatives, which doubled the necessary signatures and reached 35,968 supports, deals with one of the most discussed issues in Chilean politics in the last year and which was the protagonist in the electoral campaign.
The proposal seeks to guarantee the right to social security, so it sets a universal basic pension that covers all Chileans of retirement age. As indicated, financing will come from general tax collection.
“People will always have the right to freely choose the administrative entity or manager of their accumulated pension funds, be it private, state or mixed. In no case may the law establish a state monopoly for the administration or management of pension contributions or said funds,” the text continues.
The proposal was presented by a group of workers summoned through social networks. During the electoral campaign, the candidates “proposed allocating our contributions to solidarity funds or fictitious accounts, once again reaching into our pockets. This has already happened in Argentina where the government seized the pension funds and today the system is underfunded. We don’t want the same thing to happen to us,” the group argued.
“It will be Law” and “Right to life”
The advance of the interruption of pregnancy in Latin America divides Chilean citizens in a predominantly Catholic country and two proposals with opposing objectives managed to enter the Constituent Assembly.
The current Chilean legislation allows abortion under three grounds: fetal inviability, rape or risk to the life of the mother. Outside of these cases, the penalty is up to five years in prison.
a feminist collective presented a proposal, with 15,000 supporting signatures, that seeks to guarantee the decriminalization of pregnancy by the will of the woman. The initiative called “It will be law” also covers issues such as reproductive health, the right to information and comprehensive sexual education, access to mental health on gender issues and the labor rights of pregnant women.
On the other hand, members of the Catholic foundation “Chile Siempre” ask the Convention that “the right to life has constitutional protection, and that this protection be from the moment of conception.” The proposal that seeks to ban abortion on all grounds reached 19,850 supports, about five thousand less than the initiative “It will be Law.”
“Autonomous Central Bank”
“Inflation is one of the most damaging economic issues for people. Failure to control it supposes a deterioration in the quality of life of households, especially the poorest”, begins the initiative that seeks the creation of an Autonomous Central Bank in Chile.
The initiative developed by three civil engineers managed to reach 15 thousand signatures in less than 48 hours. Among the changes to “improve and modernize” the Constitution, they detail that “it must be indicated that monetary policy is for the exclusive use of the BC.”
In addition, they reject that the financial entity can make loans to the State or finance public spending through direct or indirect credits and demand that the autonomy of the board of directors be guaranteed “without dependency and away from any political-electoral pressure.”
“Education rights”
During the Chilean military dictatorship, Pinochet introduced the “municipalization of education,” a reform to decentralize the education system. Thirty years after its implementation, the system that they accuse of generating segregation and promoting private education is still in force, although with changes in the last government of Michel Bachelet.
Education is an issue present on the Chilean agenda and two proposals that seek to address this issue managed to stand out among thousands due to the amount of support received. Both initiatives add up to more than 36,000 signatures, and seek similar objectives: “freedom of education” and the “preferential duty of parents”.
“Religious freedom and conscience”
In October 2021, representatives of various religions from Chile arrived before the Constitutional Convention Chamber. From this meeting, the proposal was born that, through three articles, seeks to guarantee “freedom of conscience and religion.”
In addition, the text establishes that believers “may erect temples, dependencies and places of worship, which will be exempt from all kinds of contributions”, as well as having the right to have their children receive religious education “according to their own convictions.” ”.
They argue that the text was signed by a broad spectrum of religious representatives, among which it mentions: the Catholic Church, evangelical groups, the Muslim Community, the Jewish Community of Chile, the Mapuche ENAMA Corporation and the Political Council of Original Peoples.
Nationalization of Large Mining companies
The last weeks, The exploitation of lithium stole the leading role in Chilean politics after a controversial tender by the government of Sebastián Piñera for 400,000 tons of the metal.
The outgoing president’s proposal was criticized for seeking to privatize this type of mining, two months after the current president hands over the Presidency.
In the midst of this scenario that confronted various Chilean sectors, a constitutional initiative that seeks to nationalize lithium, copper and gold, reached 15,000 supportsy promises to generate divisions among constituents.
The articles establish that only productions of up to 36,000 tons per year may be awarded to companies and that the licenses will not last more than 20 years. In addition, they must be carried out “in strict compliance with the rights of indigenous peoples” and taking care of natural resources.
As for the companies that already operate in Chile, the proposal calls for expropriation “because of public utility or national interest” and establishes that private mining companies “may claim the legality of the expropriation act before the ordinary courts and will always have right to compensation for property damage.
“Cannabis to the Constitution now”
The State must respect “the free development of personality, privacy and the search for well-being, pleasure and comprehensive health, including the use of cannabis and other psychoactive substances of plant or synthetic origin,” underlines the text that 43 social groups seek to add to the new Constitution.
The proposal was the last to exceed 15,000 supports and is sponsored by more than 34,000 Chileans, including the constituent Manuela Royo and the deputy Ana María Gazmuri. In the country, the commercialization of cannabis is allowed only for its medicinal use.
*Regional News Agency
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