Two Years, Two Constitutional Conventions
Two Years, Two Constitutional Conventions
"While there were many reasons [for the results in Sunday’s vote...], one stood out: fear over violent crime,” wrote Brian Winter, as cited by Foreign Policy.
In a dramatic political reversal, an election in Chile last Sunday put right-wing parties in control of a constitutional rewrite process that had long been demanded by progressives.
The outcome was a major defeat for left-wing President Gabriel Boric. In 2019, a hike in subway fares sparked leftist-led mass protests across Chile—and calls for a new constitution. Demonstrators argued that the country’s existing charter, penned during the 1973 to 1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, contained provisions that entrenched economic inequality. After weeks of unrest, conservative then-President Sebastián Piñera and lawmakers allowed for a referendum that triggered a rewrite.[...]
“While there were many reasons [for the results in Sunday’s vote], including public anger over inflation and missteps by President Gabriel Boric and his leftist allies, one stood out: fear over violent crime,” Americas Quarterly’s Brian Winter wrote. [...]
Sunday’s election shows how violent crime is dominating the political debate throughout much of Latin America, writes AQ’s editor-in-chief.
