Chile's Constituent Assembly Elections: Deciphering the Results

Following mass protests in October 2019, Chile embarked on a reform process to address longstanding grievances, including inequality, the lack of economic opportunity, high student debt, and gender inequities.  Calls for institutional change centered on reforming the Chilean Constitution, seen as a relic of the Pinochet dictatorship despite multiple partial reforms under democratic governments.

Last October, Chilean voters approved a popular referendum to create a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.  Elections for the members of that Assembly, initially scheduled for April but postponed due to a new outbreak of COVID-19, will take place May 15 and 16.  Proponents of a new constitution view it as an opportunity to heal long-standing divisions in Chilean society and to strengthen democratic governance and social mobility.  Others, however, view the reform process as something that will deepen tensions, especially if future governments are unable to guarantee social and economic rights that a new constitution will likely enshrine.   

Who will make up the Constituent Assembly? What priorities will members pursue? How will the delegates reach consensus on tough issues that have proved divisive in the past?  What impact will the process have on the future trajectory of Chilean politics and the country’s image as one of the hemisphere’s most stable countries?

Please join us on Thursday, May 20, 2021 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET as the Wilson Center’s Latin American Program and IDEA International host prominent Chilean analysts to decipher the results.

PARTICIPANTS

INTRODUCTION - Cynthia J. Arnson, Director, Latin American Program

MODERATOR - Daniel Zovatto, Regional Director, Latin America and the Caribbean, International IDEA

PANELISTS

• Isabel Aninat, Dean, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez Law School
• Claudio Fuentes, Professor, Universidad Diego Portales
• Carmen Le Foulon, Researcher & Public Opinion Coordinator, Centro de Estudios Públicos
• Lucía Dammert, Professor, Universidad de Santiago de Chile