Chile's Constitutional Convention Finishes Magna Carta Drafting

On Saturday, after 103 plenary sessions, the Chilean Constitutional Convention (CC) concluded the drafting process of the new Magna Carta, which seeks to replace the constitution approved under Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990).

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"We are happy to announce the closure of the constitutional debate, with which we have marked an important milestone," the CC President Maria Elisa Quintero stated, adding that citizens can consult the Constitution draft at her institution’s official website.

The 499-article project includes the creation of a universal health system and the strengthening of policies to promote public education, environmental protection, and gender equality. Article 253, for instance, provides that the State must guarantee the conditions so that abortion, pregnancy, childbirth, and maternity are voluntary and protected.

The draft also establishes the need to enhance the civil rights of the Chilean Indigenous peoples, who had not been previously included in any national constitutional process, by creating special courts to prosecute crimes against them.

Before the draft is approved by the Convention plenary, the Harmonization Commission must eliminate possible contradictions or repeated content and propose legal coherence improvements to it.

Before June 9, the Preamble Committee shall draft the introductory text to the Magna Carta. The Transitional Rules Committee will also formulate the articles to regulate the deadlines for the draft’s implementation.

Once the CC plenary receives these three commissions’ indications, it will cast the final votes to present the draft to the citizenry by July 4 and submit it to a compulsory plebiscite on Sept. 4.