Chile: Plebiscite New Constitution triumphs the Rejection. First Conclusions

In the coming days we will have more input to draw greater reflections and conclusions from the elections in the exit plebiscite for a New Constitution, For now we sketch some initial coordinates. Precarization of life and response Government with a neoliberal continuity administration in the midst of a growing economic crisis encouraged a vote of punishment, while the lack of popular participation and full respect for the Peace Agreement in the Constitutional Convention contributed to providing space for the right and conservative sectors.

Byanticapitalist movement

A starting point to understand the current result is to analyze the current period that the social majorities are going through, suffering the consequences of the brutal economic crisis that the country is going through with historic inflation that impacts the precariousness and high cost of life.. This starting point is a reference for the political orientation commanded by the Boric government., the FA and the PC to manage the situation within the parameters of neoliberal logic and maintain the profit for an economically concentrated minority, This plan, in turn, is implemented based on a discursive and effective right-wing movement to sustain repression., political prison and militarization in Wallmapu, while the conservative sectors set the agenda on crime, migration and criminalization of the proposal. Thus, in the months of the “progressive” government there has been no measure to counteract the onslaught of the crisis at a social level..

In parallel, throughout the constitutional process, The constituents fully respected the margins of the Agreement for Peace and the New Constitution, including independent sectors such as Social Movements, removing from the text the most heartfelt demands such as the end of the AFPs or the recovery of common goods, justifying his action on the basis of the supramajority quorum of the 2/3 to achieve “dialogue to move forward”, In this logic, they emptied the popular participation that marked the most critical period of implementation of the Constitution Convention.. This fact was the most negative because it denied the possibility of building social strength that, despite the contradictions, it could have been established at the forefront of constitutional debates, strengthening a transformative perspective beyond the parliamentarism that prevailed.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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&frame=false&hideCard = false&hideThread=false&id=1566571665747677184&long = it&origin=https://lis-isl.org/2022/09/05/chile-plebiscito-nueva-constitucion-triunfa-el-rechazo-primeras-conclusiones/&sessionId=9120ecb816fa0a3d53bacc75ebca90e3de4219d3&siteScreenName=isl_lis&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8:1661975971032&width=550px

These two sides summarized the fact that the relationship between the government and the constituent process is politically linked., added to the fact that the conventional members of the Social Movements in the last journey of the campaign for Approval were unified with the Government Command, retreating to the second row of references and contributing even more to the relationship between constitutional change and government, Thus they expanded the rejection of Boric and, therefore to the New Constitution. At the same time, In the last period of the campaign, the FA with the PC together with the parties of the former Concertación commanded a new pact to further limit the Magna Carta proposal, ingredients to open space for the right in the context of the economic crisis. This way, now with a defeat on top, The government intends to go deeper by calling for a new pact between the regime's parties in the coming days that responds to social tension and channel a constituent proposal through parliament..

In this context, the conservative sectors, through fake news and reactionary politics, The economic situation converges with the New Constitution, taking advantage of the electoral schedule provided by the Peace Agreement to rebuild and run in a vote antagonistic to the government policy. The open flanks are always occupied and it is a fact that the most conservative sectors are strengthened with this result, although they have not been able to express that support in the streets and in a solid organization that can lead to a definitive closure of the stage opened with the rebellion..

The numbers show a 61,86% for the rejection option and a 38,14% for the approval, a total participation greater than 85% inaugurating the obligatory nature of voting. The time will come to analyze the numbers in detail, For now, what is necessary is to reinforce that the fundamental conclusions are far from showing the end of a path but rather the opening of new political battles.. Those of us who never lower the flags of popular demands, who did not stop insisting on the need to put at the center a program at the service of the majorities and warned that the policy of the government and the constituent actors and actresses led to the concrete danger of electoral defeat, We will continue to insist on the need to establish an anti-capitalist political force, with all of us who have fought together for a different Chile, anti-capitalist and built from the needs of the majority. That fight is open, will necessarily and quickly have next episodes, Today the task is to add wills so that the spirit of change is not diluted.