Chile Elections: Conservatives Win Majority to Draft New Constitution

Facts

• Conservative Chilean parties won a majority of the vote in Sunday’s elections to determine the members of a 50-seat Constitutional Council tasked with drafting a new constitution. The elections represent a strong pushback against progressive Pres. Gabriel Boric, who took over last March.¹
• The vote for a new constitution to replace that of Gen. Augusto Pinochet comes after 62% of Chileans voted against the left-wing proposal backed by Boric in September 2022. If it had been approved, Chile would’ve had one of the world’s most progressive constitutions.²
• Chile’s right-wing Republican Party, headed by former presidential candidate Jose Antonio Caste, won 22 of the 50 seats with 35.40% of the vote, while traditional right group Chile Seguro netted 11 seats (21.07%). Boric’s governing Unity for Chile party won 17 seats (28.59%) with 16.98% of the votes counted as invalid.³
• The election saw an 85% turnout as voting was mandatory, which is why such a large percentage of ballots were blank or invalid. The new conservative coalition needs three-fifths of the Council to approve Chile’s governing document changes.⁴
• After Chile's leftward shift over the past few years, rising crime has helped to tilt politics to the right. In 2019, pensions and healthcare were the top priorities for Chileans, and just four years later, crime, inflation, immigration, and drug trafficking top the list.⁵
• Violent student-led protests erupted in 2019 — responding to increased costs of public transportation and prompting broader demands for social change and equality. This led to a referendum vote in which 80% of voters decided to replace Chile’s constitution.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²BBC News, ³Amico Hoops, ⁴The Brazilian Report, ⁵Americas Quarterly, and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by Infobae. Chile has defeated a failed leftist government and chosen a new path for the nation. Boric’s party has brought inflation and crime to unprecedented levels, and Chileans don't trust his party to create a constitution that represents them. Last year Chileans voted overwhelmingly against the far-left socialist proposal, and this year they sent a clear message that they want a common-sense constitution that will restore Chile to its greatness.
• Left narrative, as provided by El País Chile. Where did Chile go wrong? After the nation finally escaped the clutches of ruthless dictator Augusto Pinochet, it seemed like it was on the path to valuing human rights and equality. Just last year it elected one of Latin America’s youngest and most progressive leaders. Now it's returning to the far-right that it worked so hard to defeat. There are a lot of explanatory factors as to why this happened, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a bad day for human rights and democracy in the Latin American nation.