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Luis Alberto Herrán will vote no.
– It is not necessary to discard the entire constitution, because the country has made progress in the last year. You can change certain parts, political will is enough. Leave the good and throw away what is not good, says Luis Alberto Herrán, a 56-year-old goldsmith from Santiago.
According to opinion polls, Luis Alberto Herrán is in the minority.
They show that between 60 and 70 percent of Chileans will vote for the country to have a new constitution.
The one that applies today It was introduced by the dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1980. Since democracy was introduced, it has been reformed several times, but the protest movement that began last year believes that it still hinders equality reforms in one of the most unequal countries in the world. .
The right-wing government of President Sebastián Piñera finally agreed to a referendum. It was supposed to be held in April, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
In case of not winning, there will be no changes. If, on the contrary, the yes wins, a constituent assembly will be elected in April.
The assembly will have a maximum period of one year to present a proposal for a new constitution, which Chileans will then vote on, in a new referendum no later than mid-2022.
The big question here is whether turnout will be high enough for the referendum to be considered legitimate, even if there is no legal minimum limit.
Turnout has been steadily declining in Chile since voting became voluntary a few years ago. In the last presidential elections of 2017, less than half of the voters voted.
The fear of being infected with corona and a low level of confidence in politics are also pointed out as possible reasons for the low turnout this year.
However, last year’s protests have sparked political interest in the country and this may mean that more people than expected go to the polls.
The result of the vote is expected to be clear overnight, Swedish time.
