MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Boric given draft of new Chilean Constitution

If approved in the September 4 plebiscite, the document will replace the neoliberal Carta Magna from the Pinochet era, which favors privatizations.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font Monday received the draft of the new Constitution after one year of work by the Assembly. The document is now to be put up for approval through a referendum in September.

“Today is a day that will undoubtedly go down in the annals of our country. It has been carried through despite all the difficulties, approving it by more than two-thirds of the members of the Convention. I know that all of Chile is aware that it has not been easy because democracy is not easy,” Boric said.

“This draft Constitution and the Plebiscite to be held in September is not and should not be a trial to the Government. It is the debate on the future and destiny of Chile for the next four, five decades; therefore, as President of the Republic, I invite you to debate with that level of vision,” he added.

The head of state insisted that the drafting of a new Constitution stemmed from the political agreement of November 15, 2019, amid the social uprising that launched him into the limelight. At that time, “Chilean men and women opted for more democracy, and not for less. And the text that you are delivering to Chile today is the fruit of that deep conviction that marks the mood of the Republic,” Boric also highlighted.

“Today we begin a new stage. It is now a matter of reading, studying, and debating the constitutional proposal, and as President of the Republic, I have the duty that each one of the citizens of the country will be able to make a free and fully informed decision,” he went on.

“There is something that we all have to be proud of,” Boric also pointed out.

Constitutional Convention Speaker María Elisa Quinteros dissolved the body after Monday's session.

The proposed Constitution seeks to replace the one from 1980 passed under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1973-1990).

In its 388 articles, the proposal constitution enshrines social rights such as universal public health, free education, better pensions, and access to housing and water, in addition to the right to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, the plurinational nature of the State, greater autonomy for native peoples and the suppression of the Senate among other issues.

If approved in the September 4 plebiscite, the document will replace the neoliberal Carta Magna from the Pinochet era, which favors privatizations.