Chile’s President, Gabriel Boric, said this Friday that if he wins the “no” option in the September 4 plebiscite, in which the future of the proposals for a new constitution will be decided, then it is necessary to “extend this process for another year and a half, during which everything must be discussed again from the beginning.

“We are continuing to review the proposed constitution. It is legal to support either option, ‘agree’ or ‘deny’. What we have to ask ourselves is what will happen the day after tomorrow,” the president said in an interview with the television program “Contigo en la Mañana”.

“Chile voted clearly in the plebiscite that it wanted a new constitution, but didn’t vote just for it. He voted that he wanted a new constitution written by a body specially elected for that purpose, therefore, if the “rejection” alternative wins, what will happen is that we have to prolong this process. There must be a new constituent process,” said the President.

The massive protests that Chile experienced from late 2019 to early 2020 led to the implementation of several social reforms and an agreement to seek a new constitution.

Citizens agreed in a plebiscite in October 2020 to convene a constitutional assembly, which was elected on 15 and 16 May 2021 and began meeting on 7 July that year.

Constituents submitted to Boric the text of their Magna Carta proposal on 4 July.

The draft constitution defines Chile as a “social and democratic rule of law. Plurinational, intercultural, regional and ecological” and includes, inter alia, the participation of territorial entities and indigenous peoples and nations.

Until now, it was thought that if the ‘reject’ option prevailed, the current constitution written during Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship would remain, but Boric reiterated this Friday that a new call should be made to elect conventionalists who rewrote the new proposals.

“That’s the path that Chile decided to take during the vote on October 25 in the plebiscite for a new constitution drafted by the elected body 100% for that purpose,” Boric said.

Regarding the constitutional proposals that voters will consider in September, Boric acknowledged that “there are undoubtedly things that need to be improved. I pay no respects”, but added that “what I invite each one to ask and answer in good faith, is to think about which scenario is more worthy of modification”.