MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Boric banned from reelection even if new Chilean Constitution is approved

Boric said banning him from immediate reelection under the proposed Constitution was the right thing to do

Chile's Constituent Assembly Thursday overwhelmingly approved a provision to ban incumbent President Gabriel Boric Font from running for reelection in 2026 should the new Fundamental Law be approved in September's referendum.

The plenary of the constituent convention drafting a new Magna Carta for Chile approved Thursday with a large majority the rule that prevents the reelection of the president, the progressive Gabriel Boric, for a second immediate term, once the current one ends in 2026.

By 124 votes in favor, zero against and three abstentions, the constituents accepted the article that establishes that “the President of the Republic elected for the period 2022-2026 cannot run for reelection for the following period and will continue in office with the constitutional powers for which he was elected.”

Boric himself approved of this decision: “Very good. It is the right thing to do,” he posted on Twitter.

The President's reelection was among the issues to be addressed by the new Constitution. The possibility is not allowed as per the 1980 text from the Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship.

The draft of the new Constitution proposes that the head of state “may be reelected, immediately or subsequently, only once.” Thursday's decision is a transitional clause and would apply only to Boric, while his successors would be governed by the new system.

The Convention plenum also rejected a transitory norm that suggested raising to 2/3 the quorum necessary for the current Congress to make amendments to the new Constitution. The initiative had only 71 of the 103 votes needed for its approval and will now return to the Transition Norms Committee for rewording.