The far-right Republican Party of Chile sweeps the Constitutional Council elections

Boric acknowledges defeat and invites the Republican Party "not to make the same mistake": "We did not know how to listen to each other"

MADRID, 8 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The far-right Republican Party of Chile has swept the Constitutional Council elections by getting 23 members out of a total of 50 who will be in charge of drafting a new draft Constitution that seeks to replace the current one, approved in 1980 under the protection of the dictator Augusto Pinochet .

With 95.13 percent of the ballots counted, the Republican Party has obtained 36 percent of the votes (3.3 million), becoming the political party with the most votes in an election since the return to democracy, according to informed 'El Mercurio'.

In second place is the official coalition Unity for Chile, which has obtained 28.45 percent of the votes (2.6 million), and in third place has been the conservative group Chile Seguro, with 21.1 percent. of the ballots (1.9 million). The rest of the options --Todo por Chile (9 percent) and Pact for the People (5.4 percent)-- have not obtained representation in the organization.

In addition, null and blank votes have broken into the elections with force, exceeding 20 percent, totaling more than 2.5 million voters, as shown by the scrutiny provided by the Electoral Service of Chile.

The Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, who has arrived at the meeting weakened with his great promise, has admitted defeat from the Palacio de la Moneda, and has invited the Republican Party not to "make the same mistake" that the coalition did, in reference to the previous constitutional process, rejected in a referendum in September 2022.

"The previous process, and we must say it, failed among other things because we did not know how to listen to each other among those who thought differently. I want to invite the Republican Party, which has obtained an unquestionable first majority in this election, not to make the same mistake that we made in its moment," he declared.

In this sense, he has urged the use of "dialogue to resolve differences": "We have all understood across the political spectrum that democracy is always defended and strengthened with more democracy and never with less," he added.

Boric has considered that they once again "have an opportunity to build with dialogue and I find a new Magna Carta that best represents the desires and the type of country that as Chileans we want to live."

The founder of the Republican Party, José Antonio Kast, has stated, after the victory of his group, that "Chile has defeated a failed government" that has been "incapable of facing the insecurity and migration crisis."

"Today we can breathe a little easier, a little more relieved and say responsibly and with hope that today is the first day of a better future for our country, it is the first day of a new beginning for Chile," he declared.

Kast has indicated that "there is nothing to celebrate" because "Chile is not well", but that they can "be happy" for having achieved "an important goal", in which "common sense ideas triumphed".