Chile to tear up Pinochet-era constitution after landmark referendum
- New charter to replace guiding principles imposed four decades ago under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
- President Sebastian Pinera’s government agreed to referendum after weeks of pressure from demonstrators
Chileans have overwhelmingly voted to rewrite the South American country’s dictatorship-era constitution in favour of a new charter drafted by citizens.
With 90 per cent of votes counted on Sunday night, a larger-than-expected 78.2 per cent backed a fresh charter, a key demand of protesters who took to the streets last year in the largest civil unrest in decades. The current document dates back to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, under which at least 3,000 people were killed and thousands sequestered and tortured.
President Sebastian Pinera’s conservative government agreed to organise the referendum after weeks of pressure from demonstrators demanding better education, higher pensions and an end to neoliberal economic policies in one of Latin America’s most unequal countries.
The protests have continued after a pause due to the pandemic. More than 30 people were killed between October 2019 and February this year.
“This plebiscite is not the end, it is the start of a road that we must travel together to agree a new constitution for Chile,” Pinera said in a national address Sunday evening.
Over 14 million Chileans were eligible to vote in the referendum and to answer two questions: whether the constitution should be rewritten and if so, who should do it.