The vast majority in Chile turned down the offer this Sunday Constitution which sought to replace one inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1989) with another with greater social rights, in a way that exceeded the most optimistic expectations of the conservative opposition.
More than 15 million voters were called to the polls on a high turnout day due to mandatory voting. In a large part of the country, the option against the new Magna Carta was imposed.
With 99.9% of the vote counted, “rejection” prevailed at 61.87%, compared to “approval” which scored 38.13%, the polling service said.
The project supported a market economy, but sought to anchor a new catalog of social rights in health care, abortion, education, and pensions, with a focus on the environment and local “diversity”.
“It’s defeat for rebirth Chile”, – said Javier Macaya, president of the ultra-conservative UDI party, who, however, did not close the door for another constitutional reform. “We are going to continue (…) the founding process, we are going to fulfill our commitment,” he promised at a press conference surrounded by Deviation followers who were celebrating.
“Beating”
“Great beating of rejection over approval. No one expected such a gap of more than 20 percentage points,” said pollster Martha Lagos, founder of the Mori poll, who described the result as a “resounding failure,” tweeted.
Holding a referendum on a new Magna Carta after the great social uprising of 2019 demanding greater social justice received the support of almost 80% of the electorate in an October 2020 plebiscite that opened the founding process.
Two years later, “Apruebo” won almost exclusively among the majority of Chileans abroad, where there were about 100,000 registered voters.
A new text of 388 articles, drafted during the year by the Constitutional Assembly, enshrines a “welfare state of rights” in response to demands made during mass demonstrations in October 2019.
The most divisive elements in the draft were the consolidation of indigenous multiethnicity and the inclusion of abortion, the right to “decent” housing, in a text with a prominent environmental focus that nonetheless supported the market economy model.
All the polls predicted the Rejection’s victory, but none with such ease.
“This is a disaster, I am very sad. I can not believe this. We went through a lot on the street to end up like this,” he said. AFP Maria José Pérez, 33, a disillusioned Apruebo supporter in the Plaza Italia, where hundreds of people gathered to share their disappointment.
Boric is committed to advancing the new constitutional process in Chile
the president ChileGabriel Boric, promised this Sunday to ensure the continuity of the founding process with the Congress and the public forces and to work to speed it up.
In his speech on public television, he also called on all citizens to “build the future together and unitedly.”
And he confirmed that this Monday he called the presidents of the Congress and representatives of civil society in the palace of La Moneda (the seat of government) to move on a new path. “When we act in unity, we bring out the best in ourselves,” he said.
“I promise to do everything on my part to build a new founding route together with Congress and civil society,” the president said.
“People were talking about Chile and he did it in a strong, clear way. Chilean men and women have demanded a new opportunity to meet, and we must live up to this call,” he stressed.
(AFP/EFE)
Source: RPP
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