2023 Chilean Constitutional Council election
In Chile, an election for the members of the Constitutional Council is scheduled to be held on May 7, 2023.[1][2] This election comes in response to the rejection of a proposed constitutional draft in a national referendum held in September 2022. Following the defeat of the draft, a multiparty agreement was reached to restart the process, which was subsequently ratified by Congress via a constitutional amendment.
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50 seats in the Chilean Constitutional Council | |||||||||||||||
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The new Constitutional Council will be modeled after the Senate and will consist of 50 members who will be elected by regions. Additionally, the council will have an equal number of men and women. The convention will be chosen through a mandatory vote in April 2023.[3]
Background
On September 4, 2022,[4] a national plebiscite known as the "exit plebiscite"[5][6] was held to determine whether voters agreed with the new Political Constitution of the Republic drafted by the Constitutional Convention. However, the proposed constitution was rejected by a margin of 62% to 38%.[7][8] Therefore, the current 1980 Constitution will continue to be in effect.
Agreement for Chile
Lawmakers announced the "Agreement for Chile" in December 2022, as a second attempt to draft a new constitution with different rules. The agreement states that a group of 50 directly-elected constitutional advisors will draft the constitution based on a preliminary draft prepared by a commission of 24 experts appointed by Congress. Additionally, a 14-member body appointed by Congress will ensure that the proposed text aligns with the 12 institutional and fundamental principles outlined in the agreement.
Council members will be directly elected in April, with equal representation of men and women and the participation of indigenous peoples. A three-fifths majority vote in the Council will be required to approve articles, which is lower than the two-thirds majority required in the previous convention. Unlike the previous convention, the number of seats reserved for indigenous representatives will not be fixed; rather, it will depend on the number of votes they receive.
The commission will work on the first draft from March 6 to June 6, and the Constitutional Council will commence its work thirty days after its election on June 6, 2023. The council must deliver the draft constitution by November 6, and a mandatory referendum will be held on December 17, 2023.[9]
The agreement was reached on 12 December 2022[3] and ratified by Congress a month later,[10] with the Republican Party and the Party of the People not participating.[3]
Contesting parties and coalitions
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Opinion polls
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | UxCh | TxCh | Dem | AxCh | PDG | ChS | PLR | Ind. | Undecided | Lead | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AD | SD | DC | |||||||||||||
| PCCh | FA | PS | PPD | ||||||||||||
| Tú Influyes | 2–6 Mar 2023 | 1,000 | 24 | 7 | – | – | 4 | 13 | 10 | – | 42 | 11 | |||
| Activa | 20–24 Feb 2023 | 816 | 10 | 5.9 | – | – | 5 | 10.1 | 7.5 | – | 61.5 | 0.1 | |||
| Panel Ciudadano | 8–9 Feb 2023 | 4,862 | 15 | 6 | – | – | 5 | 15 | 9 | – | 50 | Tie | |||
| Activa | 23–27 Jan 2023 | 870 | 14.1 | 7.4 | – | – | 9.4 | 8.3 | 8.2 | – | 52.6 | 4.7 | |||
| 20.3 | – | – | 11.8 | 10.4 | 7.5 | – | 50.0 | 8.5 | |||||||
| 22.8 | – | – | 12.6 | 15.0 | – | 49.6 | 7.8 | ||||||||
| Cadem | 14–16 Dec 2022 | 707 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 35 | 2 | |
| Cadem | 16–18 Nov 2022 | 702 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 | – | 4 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 30 | 1 | |
| Cadem | 2–4 Nov 2022 | 708 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 3 | – | 8 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 22 | 1 | |
Notes
- Results for Apruebo Dignidad (18.74%, 28 seats), PS (4.84%, 15 seats) and PPD (2.58%, 3 seats) in the 2021 election.
References
- "Cámara despacha a ley reforma de nuevo proceso constituyente". Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados (in Spanish). 11 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- "Chilean lawmakers reach agreement to start work on new constitution". Reuters. 2022-12-13. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
- "Chilean Political Parties Agree to Have Another Go at Rewriting Constitution". Bloomberg.com. 2022-12-13. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
- Fuentes, Cristóbal (2022-04-05). "Ya hay fecha: plebiscito de salida para votar una nueva Constitución será el 4". La Tercera. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- Armaza, Christian (26 October 2020). "Plebiscito de salida: la instancia donde se aprobará o rechazará la nueva Constitución". El Día (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- "Plebiscito de Salida: cuándo es y por qué es urgente". chile.as.com. 13 March 2022. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- "Plebiscito: Chile rechaza propuesta de nueva Constitución con histórica participación de más de 12 millones de personas". La Tercera. 4 September 2022. Archived from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- "Chile votes overwhelmingly to reject new, progressive constitution". The Guardian. 5 September 2022. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- Dispatch, Peoples (2023-01-15). "Chilean Congress approves bill to launch new constituent process". Peoples Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
- Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Parlamento chileno aprueba reforma que habilita nuevo proceso constituyente | DW | 11.01.2023". DW.COM (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2023-03-04.
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