2023 Chilean Constitutional Council election

On September 2022, a national plebiscite known as the "exit plebiscite"[6][7] was held to determine whether voters agreed with the new Political Constitution of the Republic drafted by the Constitutional Convention earlier that year. The proposed constitution, which had faced "intense criticism that it was too long, too left-wing and too radical",[8] was rejected by a margin of 62% to 38%.[9][10] It was considered one of the world’s most progressive constitutions, but many voters found it too polarising, and controversies mired the process.[5] Therefore, the current 1980 Constitution continued to be in effect.

The general 50 seats in the Constitutional Council were elected in the same manner as members of the Senate of Chile, which is multi-member proportional representation (D'Hondt method) with open lists in constituencies of between two and five seats corresponding to the regions. As in the previous constituent body, there will be additional seats reserved for indigenous peoples, but this time they will be based on their percentage of votes, and not according to a number set in advance by ethnic group. There is also gender parity required, in which the lists presented by the parties alternate male and female candidates, with measures in place to adjust should the election result in an imbalance (the final chamber must contain 25 men and 25 women).

The list of the 50 members who were elected was posted shortly after the election.[15]

Command of the Republican Party after the party's victory in May 2023

Chilean right-wing parties, which were opposed to major changes to the constitution,[16] won a 3/5 majority of constitutional council members to freely draft a new constitution and removing the veto option for the left-wing camp. This marked a sharp shift from a left-wing majority that freely drafted a rejected first constitutional rewrite in 2021,[5] and may have reflected disillusionment with the government of President Gabriel Boric, whose approval rating stood at under 35%. Voter apathy could be seen in the fact that roughly 21% of all ballots cast were invalid or blank.

The far-right Republican Party became the leading political force with 34% of the vote and 23 members, giving the party a veto right on amendments. President Boric’s left-wing coalition garnered about 28% and 16 seats, while a separate coalition of traditional right-wing parties gained more than 21% of the vote and 11 seats. Centrist parties took the remainder of the vote while failing to gain seats.[5]

Luis Silva, the candidate who obtained the most votes

Luis Silva, the Republican Party’s most-voted candidate, told Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman that they never wanted to replace the dictatorship-era constitution. “It’s our starting point. This process allows us to introduce new aspects to it that we believe our constitution deserves.” Party leader José Antonio Kast, who lost to president Boric in the 2021 general election, held a victory speech in Santiago; “Today is the first day of a better future, a new start for Chile. Chile has defeated a failed government.” President Boric conceded, adding that the government would act as a guarantor and support requests from the new council; “the government won’t meddle with the process and will respect the entity’s autonomy in its deliberation.”[5]

According to the BBC, "analysts say the new body will now face an uphill struggle to reconcile the ideas of its conservative majority with the clamour for change which triggered the process in the first place."[17]