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On Sunday, Chilean citizens voted in favor of the annulment of the current Constitution, which dates from 1980 and was drawn up during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. The referendum on which the Chileans expressed their opinion asked to decide whether to draft and adopt a new Constitution or to maintain the current one: 78.12 percent of the participants in the referendum said yes to a new constitution.
When asked “Do you want a New Constitution?”, “Do you want a new Constitution?”, More than three-quarters of the voters answered “I approve”, “I approve”. The call for a new constitution dates back to October 2019 when there were major protests that continued despite restrictions placed on the coronavirus pandemic.
During the night there were celebrations throughout the country and in Plaza Italia, in the capital Santiago, where last year there were large, and often violent, social protests that had led to the vindication of the new Constitution, fires were set off. artifice and tens of thousands of people celebrated with dances and choirs.
As the ballots were examined live on television, people across the country began to take to the streets to celebrate the result. Motorists honked their car horns, some danced on rooftops, others banged on pots and pans. During the celebrations, some also waved the flag of the Mapuche indigenous people who trust the new constitution to better guarantee their rights.
VIDEO: Chileans overwhelmingly voted in a historic referendum on Sunday to replace their dictatorship-era constitution, long seen as the basis for the nation’s glaring economic and social inequalities. pic.twitter.com/Th5jyW52we
– AFP news agency (@AFP) October 26, 2020
– Read also: The Mapuche want a place in the Chilean constitution
Through a second card, they decided then that the assembly, which must draft the new constitution and must take office in May 2021, will be composed exclusively of directly elected members (155), in which gender equality will be guaranteed. However, voters rejected the hypothesis of a mixed assembly, composed of half directly elected members and half current MPs.
A certain number of seats will be reserved for indigenous peoples, although the Chilean Congress has not yet determined how many. Assembly proposals must be approved by a two-thirds majority. Among the issues that could be in the foreground in the new text are the recognition of the indigenous Mapuche population, the revision of collective labor agreements, the reform of the private health, education and pension system. In the second half of 2022 a new referendum will be held that must approve or reject the text of the new Constitution.
– Read also: In Chile there have been new protests against the government
Protesters who have participated in protests against the Chilean government over the past year, led by conservative President Sebastián Piñera, argued that the 1980 Constitution, drawn up by an authoritarian military regime, helped maintain the deep inequalities that characterize Chile. and prevent any structural change in a system that privileges the entire private apparatus over the public (for example, in the education and health sectors).
President Sebastián Piñera said the new constitution should be “a home for everyone.” For Piñera, the new text must incorporate “the legacy of past generations, the will of present generations and the hopes of future generations.” Next, the Chilean president mentioned the fears that the high expectations set in the new constitutional charter will not be met: “This referendum is not the end, it is the beginning of a path that we must take towards a new constitution.”
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