Indigenous seats in Chile’s constitutional process to be voted

The Constitutional Commission of the Senate of Chile must state Wednesday to establish reserved seats for indigenous peoples in the Constitutional Convention.

It is one of pending issues so that the Constitutional Convention, for which 79% of voters spoke in October 25´s momentous plebiscite, is as representative as possible, considering that the indigenous people represent just over 12% of Chile’s population.

The commission’s vote should have been taken place on Tuesday but was postponed to Wednesday at the request of Senators Yasna Provoste (Christian Democracy) and Pedro Araya, to listen to more communities to reach an agreement on this issue.

The Right is seeking to set up a special register for the election of indigenous representatives in the Constitutional Convention, so it is considered discriminatory. It could prevent a proportional presence of indigenous peoples, while the opposition aspires they form part of general register.