Heine Comments on Chile New Draft Constitution Vote
Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, offered his insights as part of the featured Q&A in the Latin America Advisor, a publication of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington D.C. think tank.
Heine was one of various experts asked about the overwhelming rejection of a proposed draft constitution in Chile. Commenting on the counterintuitive outcome, Heine noted that one impactful factor was the decision by the Chilean Congress to allow independent candidates to run in the equivalent of party lists for the constitutional convention. This resulted in “vast numbers of delegates with no experience, little expertise and no accountability to party discipline.” These delegates damaged the credibility of the constitutional convention and paved the way for this result.
An excerpt:
The big loser is the government of President Gabriel Boric, who came out strongly in favor of the new text, and, with barely six months in office, runs the risk of becoming a lame-duck president. The big winner is the Chilean right, which once again has veto power on the way forward to a second attempt at a new charter.
The full issue of the Latin America Advisor can be read on the Inter-American Dialogue’s website.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007), and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more about Ambassador Heine on his faculty profile.