Latin Analysis: Chile To Banish Pinochet's Legacy With A New Constitution
Steve Pyke
It is no secret that since October 2019, Chile started dealing with severe social instability, as massive protests took place thought the country. One of the demands that Chileans made was that of changing the current constitution, which had been lastly reformed by former president and dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The citizens were so insistent on the matter during the strikes that flooded the nation for over a year, that politicians – not without intense debate – decided to approve a plebiscite to take place, so that the entire nation would vote in favor or against reforming Pinochet’s constitution.
Indeed, this phenomenon is considered to be historical, given that – as many political scholars remark – it will have a profound impact on the entire Latin American region and its democracies.
Pinochet’s Constitution
Today, the Chilean laws still obey the 1980’s constitution, created under the military dictatorship that took place under Pinochet’s leadership. Since its creation, the constitution was a highly polemic document, given that it followed extreme-right social and political stances. Indeed, many economic history experts have declared that the former Chilean dictator created a “neoliberalism laboratory” within the nation such that all of his policies encouraged complete market openness, a no-state-intervention policy, and privatization of public services (including the healthcare and education systems), amongst others.
As a consequence of Pinochet’s neoliberalist approach, the Chilean GDP peaked and quickly made Chile one of the richest and most economically-promising countries in Latin America. This was so much so, that – at the time – many analysts considered this economic framework to be a “model” that the rest of South America needed to replicate to boost its prospects for development.
Even after the dictatorship ended in 1990, Chilean politics continued to be ruled by the same constitution that Pinochet had established. It is true that former Chilean presidents, as Michelle Bachelet, had proposed to have the laws modified given that these had been drawn up in authoritarian enclaves; yet, said modifications never took place. Hence, Chile continued to operate under a neoliberal methodology for over 40 years, during which politicians stated – in accordance with many pro-neoliberalism developmental scholars – that the system automatically cascaded the economic benefits of the free market to all social classes throughout the Chilean society.
Uprises in Chile
Protests began in Chile in October 2019. It all started with social disconformity due to a rise in prices of the public transport. Nevertheless, many civic groups and organizations quickly joined the strikes to demand further governmental action on social security, better education, healthcare, and so on. Protestors usually declared that the government had favored the total openness of markets so much, that the country had become an aggrupation of private firms, and that – contrary to what had been expected – economic benefits had not been cascading, but instead, had been concentrating on Chilean elite groups. Hence, Chileans complained about a governmental “abandonment” of the lower social classes and minorities, such that inequality had overwhelmingly boosted over the years. Consequently, changing Pinochet’s constitution was the most latent demand amongst citizens to deal with the situation.
After many uprises in Chile, politicians of the main political parties gathered together in a so-called “Agreement for the Social Peace and New Constitution” meeting, in which they approved the “plebiscite 2020” so that Chileans could vote in favor or against the reformation of the present constitution. Yet, this decision has been highly challenged by some parties as The Communist Party of Chile and The Social Convergence Party. Given that not all members of said political groups agreed on the approval of the plebiscite, many left-wing politicians have resigned their positions and called the entire process a “fraud”. In spite of this, the elections were ultimately approved – first scheduled to be held during April 2020, and later re-arranged for October 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Historical Results
Elections were finally carried this October 25th, in which a historically high proportion of the population voted. Over 7.5 million Chileans voluntarily attended voting centers to cast their ballot. From those, an overwhelming 78.27% voted to reform the constitution, while 21.73% voted to keep it unchanged. Likewise, the electorate voted to have the constitution reformed by 155 members which will be entirely chosen by popular vote. To select the people who will get to write the new constitution, people will be summoned in April 2021 for a new round of elections, however, candidates are yet to be announced. Moreover, it has been planned that the elected constituency should be made up of 50% by men and 50% by women, such that it will become the first constitution written within gender-equality grounds, and hence, it is expected that women and minorities will be much more considered in the reformed Chilean laws.
Indeed, this phenomenon has been considered, as a whole, a revolutionary event for Latin America; one that may positively transform other democracies in the region. Thus, many analysts are positive regarding the consequences these events will have in terms of human rights, social mobility, and the quality of life of Chileans of lower social classes.
Yet, not all forecasts are positive. Since before the election was held, it had been established that, if the people were to choose a transformation of the constitution, the market would inevitably punish the country’s economy. Additionally, given that the COVID-19 pandemic had already harmed the economy of all of the Latin American countries, prospects for development are not more optimistic today. In fact, the Chilean movement had already had such an impact – considering that Chile had been one of the strongest and most stable economies of the last decade – that even the USD suffered a depreciation of 0.07% as a consequence of last month’s occurrences. Naturally, then, so did most of the other Latino currencies.
Additionally, and considering that the current pandemic had already severely impacted Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America, it has been forecasted that it will decrease significantly in Chile, as it is uncertain how the new constitution will impact businesses and stock markets. Hence, at least for the following months, prospects for economic development are pessimistic, as it is uncertain when Chile will recover its social stability and economic predicability.
Despite the negative connotations, politicians all over Latin America – including the Chilean president, Sebastian Piñera – have declared this to be a “triumph of democracy” and an event that will certainly have a social and political impact within the entire region.
The outcome of this revolutionary plebiscite in Chile is yet to be seen, and the media has remarked that concluding the process of transforming the constitution will certainly be long and complex. Nevertheless, it has been considered to be a start to a novel Latin American “popular” democracy, more inclusive of minorities and dictated by the citizens rather than businesspeople or politicians, which very well could indicate, as many analysts have predicted, the start of a socio-political transformation within the region.
