A draft for Chile’s new Constitution was returned to the Expert Commission, which defined the foundations of the text in the first place. But the popularly elected Constitutional Council was dominated by a far right that showed its teeth at every turn. And due to lack of agreement among the experts, the proposal is poised to have very sharp conservative edges.

The politically appointed Expert Commission reviewing the constitutional draft the popularly elected Constitutional Council came up with is failing, Chilean politics is failing – again.

The 24-member commission was appointed in backdoor deals to draft the bases of a new Constitution and 50 council members, elected in May, were supposed to build on these minimum agreements. But the elections resulted in a super majority for the far-right Republican Party, which, in coalition with the traditional right, could ignore the bases and turn progressive members into mere spectators.

A draft presented last year was overwhelmingly rejected in a plebiscite, among others, due to accusations the popularly elected drafting body, dubbed the Constitutional Assembly, was sidelining conservative voices, which did not receive enough votes to exert much influence. The Expert Commission was meant to prevent a similar development.