The Republican Party emerged as the clear winner of Sunday's elections to the Constitutional Council of Chile, with more than 99% of the votes counted. The Republican Party, in favor of maintaining the current Constitution, won 22 of the 50 seats in the race, becoming the leading party with more than 35% of the votes.
The formation led by José Antonio Kast, presidential candidate in 2021, surpassed Unity For Chile, the party of the country's current president, Gabriel Boric, by five seats. Thus, the right wing, with the 22 seats won by the Republican Party and the eleven seats won by the Chile Seguro party, has a majority of 33 board members which gives it a broad autonomy to move forward and lead the project of reform of the Constitution to replace that of 1980, following the failure of the left last year in their attempt to deconstruct the Constitution.
With more than 35% of the votes, the Republican Party will provide 22 of the 51 councilors (50 representatives of the political parties and one from the indigenous peoples) who will have the task of drafting a new Constitution during the remainder of the year.
For its part, Boric's leftist coalition, Unity for Chile, obtained 28% of the votes and 17 councilors, less than the 21 that would have given it the right to veto in the process of drafting the new Constitution. The conservative group Chile Seguro obtained 21.5% of the ballots and would secure the remaining 11 councilors. The Todo por Chile and Partido de la Gente alliances - center-left and liberal, respectively - are left without representation in the Council.
From power, Gabriel Boric appealed to continue with his government agenda while José Antonio Kast pointed out despite his resounding victory that "there is nothing to celebrate because Chile is not well"; calling to work for the unity and recovery of the country after two years of radical left government.
El Presidente @GabrielBoric se refirió a nuestra agenda de Gobierno, que llevaremos a cabo mientras se desarrolla una nueva etapa de construcción de diálogo y de encuentros, enfocada en una nueva Constitución que represente a las chilenas y chilenos 🇨🇱 pic.twitter.com/71Wc2nwHvH
— Gobierno de Chile (@GobiernodeChile) May 8, 2023
🗳️ #ChileElige | @joseantoniokast: "Hoy debo decir que no hay nada que celebrar, porque Chile no está bien, los chilenos no estamos bien y eso hay que grabárselo en el corazón, para algunos pocos esta elección parece muy importante pero para la mayoría de los chilenos no" pic.twitter.com/ei2mAtgdKb
— 24 Horas (@24HorasTVN) May 8, 2023
