Chileans decide to afford a new constitution
Plaza Italia, in Santiago de Chile.
The Chileans overwhelmingly approved by referendum on October 25, 2020 a change of Constitution.
AP Photo / Luis Hidalgo
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
A historic referendum on this subject was organized this Sunday, October 25 and voters overwhelmingly said "yes", with nearly 78% of the vote.
They should thus abandon the current Constitution, inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship.
A text modified several times since the return to democracy in 1990, but which protected the neo-liberal economic model imposed under the ex-dictator.
Yesterday evening the Chileans went out to celebrate the result of more than a year of social mobilization.
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With our correspondent in Santiago de Chile,
Justine Fontaine
According to almost final results covering more than 99% of the polling stations, the votes in favor of a new Constitution largely won with 78.28% of the votes, against 21.72% for the vote rejecting this option.
Turnout is around 50%, according to the electoral authority.
The option of a “Constituent Convention” made up solely of citizens wins by 79% of the votes, against 21% for a “Mixed Convention” made up of citizens and parliamentarians.
The draft Constitution will be submitted to a referendum in 2022.
Under the fireworks, more than 10,000 people gathered in the evening Place de la dignité, as the demonstrators have renamed it since
the social movement of October 2019 against inequalities
.
A year ago to the day, the protest against inequalities took a turn when 1.2 million people gathered in this emblematic Plaza Italia, renamed Place de la Dignité.
Triggered by an increase in the price of the metro ticket in Santiago, the protest was fueled by the anger of the population denouncing the disconnection of the elites in the face of the difficult daily life of the greatest number and caught the entire political class by surprise.
Maria Fernanda, 33, comes from a popular neighborhood in Santiago.
“
I'm really happy the 'yes' won.
Maybe I won't see a change today or tomorrow, but I think my children and my grandchildren will see it, and that's what matters to me,
”she says.
"An example of democracy"
Despite the pandemic, the demonstrators came with family or friends.
Guillermo, 47, would like to thank the young people, who launched the social movement last year: “
The people of my generation are the children of the dictatorship.
But the next generation, that of our children, has arrived.
And she managed to get things to change.
Today is the end of the Pinochet dictatorship, it is a historic moment.
And this vote is an example of democracy.
"
The most undemocratic measures of the current Constitution were gradually withdrawn after the end of the dictatorship.
But the neo-liberal model imposed under Pinochet is still constitutionally protected today.
And this Sunday the Chileans have massively demonstrated that they want to put an end to the inequalities produced by this model.
Conservative President Sebastian Piñera reacted very soon after the results.
In a televised address, he called for the “
unity
” of the country to draft the “
new Constitution
”.
“
Until now, the Constitution has divided us.
From today, we must all work together so that the new Constitution is a space of unity, stability and the future,
”insisted the Head of State.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic which hit Chile hard (500,000 contaminations, 14,000 deaths), voters, duly masked, formed long queues all day long in front of the polling centers.
► Read also:
Chile: the rescuers of the October demonstrations on the front line against the Covid-19
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