With nearly all the ballots counted, 62% of voters rejected the proposal with 38% voting in favor, based on the Chile Electoral Service.
The proposed structure, which had the assist of leftist President Gabriel Boric, included 388 articles that may have considerably prolonged social rights, elevated environmental regulation and given the federal government wider accountability for social welfare packages. It additionally would have supplied full gender parity and added designated seats for indigenous representatives.
The doc was rejected in all of Chile’s provinces, together with the extra progressive capital of Santiago and its metropolitan space, the place voters had overwhelmingly supported Boric final December through the presidential election.
Boric responded to the defeat in a dwell televised tackle to the nation after the shut of polling on Sunday.
“Today the individuals of Chile have spoken, they usually have carried out so loudly and clearly,” Boric stated. “They have given us two messages. The first one is that they love and worth their democracy … The second one is that the individuals of Chile was not glad with the proposed structure and, due to this fact, has determined to reject in a transparent manner on the polls.”
Images from Santiago on Sunday present a sombre temper amongst supporters of the structure, whereas others celebrated the information it had been voted down.
The structure at present in place was written underneath the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, who dominated Chile with an iron fist from 1973 to 1990. Proponents of the brand new structure wished a break from Chile’s authoritarian previous and a doc that mirrored the pursuits of communities that, based on them, had been ignored.
Why change the structure?
The proposed change was initiated in 2020 when then-president Sebastien Piñera referred to as a referendum on creating a brand new structure amid social turmoil and standard discontent sparked by a metro fare enhance in October 2019.
In October 2020, greater than 78% of Chilean voters permitted a plebiscite that proposed constitutional change, and in June 2021, they forged their ballots once more to select the members for a constituent meeting.
The Constitutional Assembly was the primary on the earth to have full gender parity and the primary within the nation´s historical past to incorporate designated seats for indigenous representatives.
Supporters have been hopeful its progressive stance could be mirrored in a brand new, up to date structure.
And the constitutional course of itself was praised internationally for giving the nation an institutional manner out of a social disaster, and for responding to trendy Chileans’ calls for for extra equality and a extra inclusive and participatory democracy.
According to University of Chile professor Robert Funk, eradicating remnants of the previous imposed by Pinochet was a key driver for creating a brand new structure.
“The current structure in Chile was written initially in 1980 underneath the navy dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Since then, it was amended many, many occasions; nevertheless it was all the time questioned as a result of it was imposed throughout a dictatorship,” Funk stated.
Path to rejection
After a lot deliberation, the ultimate draft of the revised structure was submitted to Boric, Piñera’s successor, in July this 12 months.
But though most Chilean voters supported the concept of constitutional change again in October 2020, divisions appeared over the proposed draft.
Soon after the draft was made public, completely different polls started exhibiting an growing development towards the rejection of the constitution, with the federal government publicly recognizing that situation.
The defeated structure would have been one of the crucial progressive on the earth, giving the state a front-line function within the provision of social rights.
The draft put a robust emphasis on indigenous self-determination and on the safety of the atmosphere, and would have dismantled the extremely privatized water rights system. It had required gender equality in all public establishments and firms, and enshrined the respect for sexual variety. It additionally envisaged a brand new nationwide healthcare system.
But the undertaking turned bitterly divisive.
The proper argued the draft would shift the nation too far left, or that it was too formidable and troublesome to show into environment friendly legal guidelines. In the lead-up to the vote, even a few of its supporters on the left wished changes made, with their slogan “approve to reform.”
The opposition has vowed to start a brand new course of to rewrite the structure, promising voters the following one will higher mirror their pursuits.
In his speech Sunday, Boric signaled this was not the top of efforts towards reform.
“This determination by Chilean women and men requires our establishments and political actors to work more durable, with extra dialogue, with extra respect and care, till we arrive at a proposal that interprets us all, that’s reliable, that unites us as nation,” Boric stated.
CNN’s Michelle Velez, Daniela Mohor W. and Jorge Engels contributed to this report.
