Chile's government and opposition parties have agreed on Monday to promote a new constituent process to be led by an elected body, but this time with the advice of a committee of experts.
In this way, Chile will continue on the path towards a new constitution to repeal the current one, which dates from the era of dictator Augusto Pinochet, after the failed constitutional referendum of last September 4.
Representatives of all Chilean parliamentary forces met this Monday at the Congress headquarters to discuss the steps to be taken towards a new constitutional referendum which, as was the case with the previous one, will be carried out by a body elected by the citizens and in which there will be parity, and will be held after an exit plebiscite.
After the meeting, the president of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), Raúl Soto, acknowledged to Canal 13 his optimism for the holding of a new constitutional plebiscite and described this agreement in principle as "a light of hope" for Chile.
"What we want is to maintain the democratic and participative origin, but correcting the errors of the process that has just failed", said Soto, thus arguing the need for a group of experts to be in charge of advising the constituent body.
Thus, the president of the lower house has advanced that on Thursday a new meeting will be held to outline other details that have still been left in the pipeline, such as the name with which the body will be designated or the operation of the same.
Chile held a constitutional referendum on September 4 as the culmination of a year-long constituent process. In the end, more than 60 percent of the Chilean population rejected the proposal for a new Constitution.