![Chile's President Sebastian Pinera says the assembly represents an opportunity to write a new charter for all Chileans [File: Edgard Garrido/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/be230ff6691b4212b73674c71da39c13_18.jpeg?resize=770%2C513)
SANTIAGO, June 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Constitutional Convention of Chile will be installed on July 4, with the first session of its 155 members, who will begin drafting the new Magna Carta, which will replace the current one, inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990).
President Sebastián Piñera convened the first session of the Convention, which will have a period of nine months, extendable by three, to draft the new Constitution, which must be ratified by Chileans in a plebiscite.
The new Constitution, one of the main demands of the protests that began in October 2019, must replace the current one, considered the cause of social injustice in one of the most prosperous countries in the region.
“The Constitutional Convention represents a great opportunity to reach broad and solid agreements, which allow the creation of a Constitution that is recognized and respected by all and constitutes a great mark of unity, stability and protection in the future, for our democracy and the our society,” declared Piñera, who called the instance “a historic landmark.”
The document will replace the one left by former president Augusto Pinochet, who established a system with little state participation and great openness to the free market, and which has been revised several times since Chile returned to democracy in 1990. — NNN-AGENCIES
