Last weekend, when Chile elected a constituent assembly, will go down in the country's history.
How this story continues remains to be seen in the coming months.
The main role in the drafting of a new constitution is played by representatives who do not come from the traditional political class.
Independent candidates will take nearly a third of the 155 seats in the constituent assembly.
Tjerk Brühwiller
Correspondent for Latin America based in São Paulo.
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The candidates of the opposition center-left alliances also occupy around a third of the seats, 17 seats are reserved for representatives of the indigenous minority. The big loser in the election is the alliance of conservative parties, which is expected to take 37 seats, or less than a third. Since the articles of the new constitution each have to be approved by two-thirds of the assembly, the center-right cannot block certain advances alone.
The good performance of the independent candidates comes as a surprise to many in this clarity, since most candidates had comparatively limited funds available for the election campaign.
The election result is interpreted as a punishment for the traditional political parties, especially the conservative forces.
After the results became known, President Sebastián Piñera admitted that the citizens had sent “a clear and strong message”.
Neither the government nor the traditional parties responded adequately to the demands and wishes of the citizens.
One is challenged by new leadership and forms of expression, said Piñera.
"It is our duty to listen humbly and attentively to the message of the people."
Weeks of unrest
The demand for a new constitution emerged during the social protests since October 2019. After weeks of protests and unrest in the country, the government and opposition paved the way for the constituent assembly election that same year. The current constitution dates from 1980 and, despite several adjustments in the past, is seen as the heir to the military regime of Augusto Pinochet.
In addition, many Chileans see the constitution, which minimizes the role of the state, as the source of social injustice in the country.
Chile has the highest per capita income in Latin America, but is still classified as one of the countries with the highest inequality.
However, the "model" adopted from the dictatorship is also considered to be the basis for the economic stability of Chile, which has made the country one of the richest and most developed countries in the region.
Given the importance of the election, the turnout of less than forty percent was below expectations.
Risk of disappointment
The constituent assembly now has nine months to submit a new constitutional text. The deadline can be extended by a further three months. For the first time ever, the seats in a constituent assembly will be divided equally between women and men, which is almost revolutionary in the strongly male-dominated politics of Chile. The recognized indigenous peoples of Chile are also represented in the constitutional convention.
The first meeting of the assembly is expected to take place at the end of June. Observers point out that the very heterogeneous composition of the Constitutional Convention could lead to problems with coordination and make it difficult to draw up a solid new constitution. The process is also associated with high hopes, which harbors the risk of disappointment. At the same time, it triggers uncertainty, especially from the point of view of the economy.
The Chileans are expected to decide on the proposed new constitutional text in another referendum in mid-2022. By then, Chile will have a new president and a new parliament, who will be elected in November this year. The weekend elections for mayors, local councils and, for the first time, regional governors, which took place at the same time as the election of the constitutional convention and which slipped to the left, offered a foretaste.