Chile’s Bachelet launches campaign for new constitution
Chile’s political parties are beginning to get to grips with President Michelle Bachelet’s constitutional reform proposals, spelled out earlier this month. It looks like being a complicated process, going through various stages and lasting more than two years: not surprisingly perhaps, Chile’s political leaders are not rushing in with definitive opinions, but are trying to work out where their advantage may lie. The private sector has expressed serious misgivings about embarking on this project at a time of economic uncertainty.
Chile’s constitution is 35 years old, a product of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990)’s military dictatorship in 1980. The country’s centre left has long wanted a document with a more democratic pedigree. By contrast, Chile’s Right has tended to argue that with a tweak here and there it is still a workable document and one worth soldiering on with. These positions are not new. Reforming the constitution was one of President Bachelet’s campaign promises in her successful presidential election campaign in late 2013. But a lot has changed since then.