Chile: the polling stations are already open and the country decides whether or not to change its Constitution

From the beginning, the nearly 3,000 seats scattered throughout Chile opened the polls for the country to hold one of the most important votes in its history. More than 15 million Chileans will decide whether to approve or reject the proposed new Constitutionwhich comes to replace the text written during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Inherited from the dictatorship that reigned between 1973 and 1990, the current Magna Carta is seen by society as the origin of inequalities in the country by promoting the privatization of basic services, such as education, health or pensions.

If rejected, the current Basic Law will remain in effect, even though Chilean President Gabriel Boric has already done so announced that it will convene a new constituent process and that the mandate of the October 2020 plebiscite will be fulfilledin which almost 80% of Chileans called for a constitutional change.

The polls will be open until 18:00 and the result, which should be very close, will be known a couple of hours later.

At the stroke of midnight, the president said in a Twitter message that “Sunday will be a great day” and showed it. “deeply proud” that the company has “come here”. “In Chile, we resolve our differences with more democracy, not less,” he added.

an uncertain outcome

Boric, a supporter of constitutional change, has traveled to his native Punta Arenas, more than 3,000 kilometers south of Santiago, to vote early in the morning and is expected offer an intervention on a national network once the result is known, regardless of which option wins.

While the polls predict a probable “Reject” option win. -although in the last few days the difference has narrowed and there is an air of uncertainty- Boric has already done it he admitted that if the Constitution is approved, he will be willing to include reforms.

In any case, the stage is open because, for the first time, voting is universal and mandatory and there is a large number of voters absent from the polls for years.

Days ago, in the middle of the campaign, the parties of the government alliance signed an agreement to commit to introducing the necessary changes to the application of the new text.

There is talk of a transversal agreement between all political forces for this Monday. Supporters and opponents of the proposal they are convinced that it will be necessary to work on a new text.

What the text of the proposed Constitution in Chile says

The new text declares Chile a “social and democratic, pluri-national, intercultural, regional and ecological state of law”, establishes a catalog of new social rights and establishes that its democracy is “equal and inclusive”.

“There are issues where the text is one of the most avant-garde in the worldespecially in the field of gender equality and nature protection, “constitutionalist Tomás Jordán, from the University of Alerto Hurtado, told the EFE news agency.

Its advocates say it will help create a “fairer” Chile, the main demand voiced by citizens in the 2019 wave of protests, while its detractors argue that it is a “radical” text and that it “does not unite the country”.

With a strong emphasis on gender equality, it also declares the “Ecological State”, with a commitment to defend the environment. Research end the privatization of essential resources such as water and facilitate access to housing and other achievements of equal rights and social justice.

Obvious changes compared to the Magna Carta of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, which – despite the partial reforms implemented in democracy – leaves the management of education, health, the pension system in the hands of the market, with minimal space for state interference.

But despite the desire for democratic openness of this proposal, many see it as a threat to the established order.

The drafting of a new text was the result of an agreement between different political forces in November 2019, when an unprecedented crowd – mostly young people – took to the streets, in an expression of fury that left dozens of wounded in clashes with the police, destruction that can still be seen today in the center of Santiago and one certainty: Chile needs a profound reform of its political and social model.