For the first time, the country will have a fundamental law that will be drafted with full popular participation, since the 155 members of the Convention were democratically elected by the population on May 15th and 16th via elections.

This group is characterized by having gender parity, including representatives of the ten officially recognized indigenous peoples, and having a majority of independents, who came from the population.

The opening session of the Convention is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am local time in the gardens of the former National Congress, with 155 constituents attending the event.

Its realization outside the old building responds to the sanitary measures imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to maintain an adequate physical distance between the participants.

A fundamental aspect of the program will be the election of the Board of Directors, for which there seems to be a consensus that a woman ought to preside over it, and although several names have been considered, everything indicates that the Mapuche intellectual Elisa Loncón could turn out.

Loncón’s proposal, a renowned academic from the University of Santiago and a 58-year-old linguist, came from the seven representatives of that native people who are part of the Constitutional Convention, and has the support of other delegates.

pgh/llp/mem/rc