Chile has elected a coalition led by independent candidates to draft a new constitution in replacement of the one inherited during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Members of the media may directly contact the following expert:
Marie-Christine Doran (English, French and Spanish)
Full Professor, School of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences
[email protected]
Professor Doran works on the evolution of democracy and governance in Latin America with themes including political changes (turn to the left), and is a member of the OVCD (Observatory on Violence Criminalization and Democracy):
“In the world’s first election with 100 percent equal representation (including reserved seats for the country’s Indigenous people), Chile has chosen 155 delegates to develop the country’s new constitution and turn the page on the constitution that was introduced during General Pinochet’s reign. The composition of this new assembly, which includes new governors and mayors elected yesterday, to draft the constitution shows a major political change in the forces driving Chile, which were awakened in October 2019 with the #ChileAwake movement.
“Despite strongly managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the Right and the traditional parties that emerged from the 1990 democratic transition have been overtaken by independent candidates representing a more diverse sector of society. Many of the Indigenous candidates are supporters of human rights and environmental laws. And for the first time, a woman (Irací Hassler of the Communist Party) is the mayor of Santiago.”