By Alejandra Garcia on May 20, 2021
Iraci Hassler, Photo: Marcelo Hernandez, Aton Chile
Last weekend, Chileans went to the polls and elected the 155 citizens who will discuss and draft Chile’s new Constitution. The country lived one of its most shocking days in its history over one year after the social outburst against President Sebastian Piñera took place (Oct. 2019 – March 2020). Against predictions, the big winner of the Constituent Convention elections was the left.
A few minutes before the vote count ended, the two big opposition lists -Apruebo Dignidad and Lista del Apruebo- and the independent parties exceeded two-thirds of the 155 seats in the Convention, in which 17 places were reserved for Indigenous Peoples’ representatives.
In a broader dimension of analysis, the victory of the opposition and independents in the Constitutional Convention is a resounding reality. They will have 57 percent of the 155 Convention members.
“We will finally have a plurinational State where the roots of European conquerors will be entwined -at least in the Constitution- with the Indigenous peoples: Mapuche, Aymara, Kawésquar, Rapa Nui, Yagán, Quechua, Atacameño, Diaguita, Colla and Chango. The hodgepodge of peoples that make up the Chilean nation,” journalist Manuel Cabieses reported.
The people of Chile yearn for transformation. “That is why the left-wing achieved a tremendous triumph. The Constitution, which will be written by equal numbers of men and women -something unprecedented worldwide-, will be democratic and made from the grassroots,” Communist Party (PC) presidential pre-candidate Daniel Jadue agreed.
This victory is the beginning of a new social cycle in Chile and it is the death certificate of the discredited political parties. The president’s credibility was buried after a year of police brutality in the protests, mismanagement of the pandemic, neoliberal measures, and political whims.
“I admit we were late in the social aids to assist the pandemic. We are not in tune with the demands and desires of the citizenry. We are being challenged by new expressions and leadership, and we must listen with humility and attention to the message of the people,” Piñera acknowledged crestfallen, after the resounding defeat of the right-wing.
These elections were also historic for another reason: the Communist Party achieved an unprecedented victory in the commune of Santiago, the heart of Chile, led by 30-year-old Iraci Hassler. On Sunday, she became the first Communist mayor of the former bastion of conservatism.
“Hassler’s victory is the most important political fact of this election, from my perspective. It is not that the electorate of Santiago has become communist. In the Constitutional Convention, the PC won only four percent of the seats. However, what is happening is that Party’s former rivals and thousands of fearful voters joined the communist and feminist candidate unconditionally and with no qualms,” Cabieses emphasized.
The young economist is the second woman to be in charge of the city since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990, following Carolina Tohá (2012-2016). “What happened today in Santiago is the prelude to what will also happen in our country. We are going with great strength and conviction to build a municipality for the people. There is no rest,” Hassler said after learning of her victory.
The former student leader was a Santiago councilwoman for four years. “I know closely the problems that afflict our community. We will never again allow the right-wing to lead us. The city has already gone through enough misery and neglect during the Piñera administration,” she added.
Santiago is a very important resource and influence base. “If Mayor Hassler’s administration is efficient, the PC’s leverage will have been strengthened and projected to other levels,” Cabieses said.
It remains to be seen whether the Convention’s independent majority will take the lead in discarding the Pinochet-era model, or will instead settle for a facelift. The “neoliberal” label is in decline, but the “values” it has instilled in Chilean society still persists among many.
“Only a long-term humanist cultural revolution can replace them with the solidarity and dignity of a society of equals. However, everything indicates Chile has reached the point of no return. The change is already here,” the journalist assured.