Chileans overwhelmingly rejected a new progressive constitution to replace its dictatorship-era charter, dealing a blow to youthful Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who must now hammer out deals to create another document or change the current one.
Although the proposed charter was expected to be defeated in Sunday’s plebiscite, the almost 24-point win by the rejection camp was a shocking defeat for a document that was three years in the making and had been billed as a democratic effort to replace the constitution imposed by former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet 41 years ago.
With 99.9 percent of the votes counted, the rejection camp had 61.9 percent support compared with 38.1 percent for approval amid heavy turnout with long lines at polling states. Voting was mandatory.
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Boric, who had lobbied hard for the new document, said the results made it evident that Chileans “were not satisfied with the constitutional proposal that the convention presented to Chile.”
The president said there would now likely be “adjustments to our governing team” as he seeks to find a path forward.
Despite the loss, the large majority believe the current constitution needs changing, they just felt the proposed one was not a suitable replacement, analysts say.
Boric made it clear the process to amend it would not end with Sunday’s vote.
He said it was necessary for leaders to “work with more determination, more dialogue, more respect” to reach a new proposed charter “that unites us as a country.”
In Chile’s capital, Santiago, horns blared in celebration as groups of people gathered in numerous intersections to celebrate the results.
“We’re happy because, really, we all want a new constitution, but one that is done right and this one didn’t fulfill the expectations of the majority,” said Lorena Cornejo, 34, while waving a Chilean flag. “Now we have to work for a new one that unites us, this one didn’t represent us and that was clear in the vote.”
Even some who were in favor of the proposed document put a positive spin on the defeat.
“Although it’s true that I wanted it to be approved, this is a new opportunity to reform everything that people didn’t agree with,” Alain Olivares, 36, said. “We’re just going to have to wait longer to change the constitution.”
Carlos Salinas, a spokesman for the Citizens’ House for Rejection, said the majority of Chileans saw rejection as “a path of hope.”
Despite the expectations of defeat for the proposed charter, no analyst or pollster had predicted such a large margin for the rejection camp, showing how Chileans were not ready to support a charter that would have been one of the most progressive in the world and would have fundamentally changed the South American country.
The constitution was the first in the world to be written by a convention split equally between male and female delegates, but critics said it was too long, lacked clarity and went too far in some of its measures, which included characterizing Chile as a plurinational state, establishing autonomous indigenous territories, and prioritizing the environment and gender parity.
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