Chile’s Constitution Writers Are Very New to Politics
A closer look at the group of newcomers set to rewrite Chile’s constitution. Activist Giovanna Grandon, known as Pikachu aunt, is among the new faces on Chile s constitutional convention. MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images
Even back in 2019, when widespread protests sparked a movement to rewrite Chile’s constitution, it was hard to deny that the country was tired of traditional politicians – and wanted some fresh faces.
After elections on May 15 and 16, it’s clear Chileans will be getting just that. Our analysis for
AQ found that of the 155 delegates chosen to draft Chile’s new constitution, only 34, or 22%, had ever run for elected office, and only 21, or 13.5%, had held elected office.
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Chile s ruling coalition of Conservative President Sebastián Piñera was the biggest loser of the weekend
None of Chile s traditional political parties has managed to win at least one-third of the seats at stake in this past weekend s elections to appoint a new Constituent Assembly which will have to write up a new constitution to replace the one from 1980 which was inherited from Augusto Pinochet s military dictatorship
Turnout was around 37% of the 14.9 million registered voters, well below the 50.9% registered in last October s plebiscite.
In addition to that, Chile s ruling coalition of Conservative President Sebastián Piñera was the biggest loser of the weekend, as a fragmented leftwing opposition took a sizeable majority of the 155 seats.