The Canadian Press
Sun, December 17, 2023
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Voters rejected on Sunday a proposed conservative constitution to replace Chile’s dictatorship-era charter, showing both the deep division in the South American country and the inability of political sectors to address people's demands for change made four years ago.
With nearly all votes counted late Sunday, about 55.8% had voted “no” to the new charter, with about 44.2% in favor.
The vote came more than a year after Chileans resoundingly rejected a proposed constitution written by a left-leaning convention and one that many characterized as one of the world’s most progressive charters.
The new document, largely written by conservative councilors, was more conservative than the one it had sought to replace, because it would have deepened free-market principles, reduced state intervention and might have limited some women’s rights.
The process to write a new constitution began after 2019 street protests, when thousands of people complained about inequality in one of Latin America’s most politically stable and economically strongest countries.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Sunday night that his government won't try a third attempt to change the constitution, saying there are other priorities.
He admitted he wasn't able to “channel the hopes of having a new constitution written for everyone.” On the contrary, he said, after two referendums, “the country became polarized, it was divided.”
Javier Macaya, the leader of the conservative Independent Democratic Union party, recognized the defeat and urged the government not to raise the issue again.
“From a perspective of coherence and respect for democracy, we recognize the results,” Macaya said.
Now, the constitution adopted during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet — which was amended over the years —- will remain in effect.
That is what former President Michelle Bachelet had hoped for when she voted early Sunday.
“I prefer something bad to something worse,” said Bachelet, who campaigned to reject the latest charter proposal.
One of the most controversial articles in the draft said that “the law protects the life of the unborn,” with a slight change in wording from the current document that some warned could make abortion fully illegal. Chilean law currently allows abortions for three reasons: rape, an unviable fetus and risk to the life of the mother.
Another article in the proposed document that sparked controversy said prisoners who suffer a terminal illness and aren’t deemed to be a danger to society at large can be granted house arrest. Members of the left-wing opposition said the measure could end up benefiting those who have been convicted of crimes against humanity during the Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
The charter would have characterized Chile as a social and democratic state that “promotes the progressive development of social rights” through state and private institutions. It was opposed by many local leaders who said it would scrap a tax on houses that are primary residences, a vital source of state revenue that is paid by the wealthiest.
It also would have established new law enforcement institutions and said irregular immigrants should be expelled “as soon as possible.”
César Campos, a 70-year-old taxi driver, turned out early to support the new constitution. He viewed it as a vote against the left, whose ideas largely dominated the first, rejected draft.
“Boric wants everybody to be equal,” Campos said of the president. “Why should anyone who studies or works their entire life have to share that?”
In 2022, 62% of voters rejected the proposed constitution that would have characterized Chile as a plurinational state, established autonomous Indigenous territories and prioritized the environment and gender parity.
In Santiago, the capital, talk before Sunday's vote often turned to security rather than the proposed charter. State statistics show an uptick in robberies and other violent crimes, a development that tends to benefit conservative forces.
“This whole process has been a waste of government money ... it's a joke,” said government employee Johanna Anríquez, who voted against the new constitution, calling “it is very extremist.”
“Let's keep the one we have and, please, let's get on with the work of providing public safety,” Anríquez said.
There appeared to be little enthusiasm for Sunday’s vote. Most citizens are exhausted after 10 elections of various types in less than 2 1/2 years, but voting is compulsory in Chile.
Malen Riveros, 19, a law student at the University of Chile, said the fervor that was ignited by the 2019 street protests has been lost and for her, the choice on Sunday was between the bad or the worse.
“The hopes were lost with the passing of time,” Riveros said. “People have already forgotten why we went into the streets.”
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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
María Verza And Patricia Luna, The Associated Press
Chile voters reject conservative constitution in second referendum
Chilean voters on Sunday rejected a proposed new constitution drafted by a conservative-led committee, electoral service Servel said, meaning the charter imposed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet will remain in force.
Issued on: 18/12/2023 -
People queue to vote during a referendum on a new Chilean constitution, in Temuco, Chile, December 17, 2023.
© Juan Gonzalez, Reuters
By: NEWS WIRES|
Video by: FRANCE 24
With 99 percent of the referendum ballots counted, the "against" option prevailed with 55.75 percent of the vote, compared to 44.25 percent in favor, according to Servel, just hours after voting ended around 6 pm (2100 GMT).
The latest version of a new proposed constitution was overseen by the far-right opposition Republican Party after voters roundly rejected a progressive draft in September 2022 that attempted to enshrine environmental protections and the right to elective abortion.
Leftist President Gabriel Boric said last month that it would be his last attempt to reform the constitution, in order to focus on stability and long-term development. His government had adopted a neutral position on the new draft.
"Today we are experiencing a new... day that, no matter the result, strengthens our democracy," Boric said after voting in his hometown of Punta Arenas.
Polls, banned in the two-week run-up to the referendum, had predicted another rejection.
The process to rewrite the 1980 constitution, adopted under the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship, began as a bid to ease mass protests that broke out in 2019 against social inequality.
In a 2020 referendum, 80 percent voted for replacing the constitution.
However, four years after the protests erupted, enthusiasm has been dampened by the pandemic, inflation and economic stagnation, a growing sense of insecurity, and voter fatigue.
"There is not much spirit, as this is an exhausting process," information technology worker Nicolas Mora, 29, said after voting.
Paulina Salas, a 56-year-old homemaker, said she hopes that after this vote Chile can return to calm.
There is a need for "stability, that people can go back to work, to have safety with regard to their job and everyday life," Salas said.
'Even more to the right'
The opposition presented the vote as a referendum on Boric, who rode the wave of public discontent to be elected Chile's youngest-ever leader in 2021 at 35.
Boric, whose approval has plummeted to around 30 percent, had already suffered a setback in May when Chile's far-right Republican Party came in first in a nationwide vote to choose the members of the constitution rewrite committee.
The 1980 constitution is widely blamed for allowing companies and the elite to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, working classes.
The first rewrite included stronger protections for Indigenous rights and proposals to protect natural resources such as water, and required women to hold at least half of positions in public institutions.
Heiss said the latest rewrite "falls between the 1980 constitution and one even more to the right," especially on issues like abortion and public safety.
The new version would have aimed at enshrining the right to life from conception, which experts believe could lead to a challenge of existing laws.
Abortion was banned in Chile until 2017, when it was allowed in cases of rape, when the mother's life is at risk, or the fetus is declared unviable.
The new draft also would have allowed for the expulsion in "the shortest possible time" of undocumented immigrants, with the right blaming rising crime on an influx of Venezuelans fleeing economic crisis in their country.
The latest proposed constitution would have for the first time recognized Indigenous peoples, which make up 12 percent of the population, but did not address their request for greater autonomy.
(AFP)
By: NEWS WIRES|
Video by: FRANCE 24
With 99 percent of the referendum ballots counted, the "against" option prevailed with 55.75 percent of the vote, compared to 44.25 percent in favor, according to Servel, just hours after voting ended around 6 pm (2100 GMT).
The latest version of a new proposed constitution was overseen by the far-right opposition Republican Party after voters roundly rejected a progressive draft in September 2022 that attempted to enshrine environmental protections and the right to elective abortion.
Leftist President Gabriel Boric said last month that it would be his last attempt to reform the constitution, in order to focus on stability and long-term development. His government had adopted a neutral position on the new draft.
"Today we are experiencing a new... day that, no matter the result, strengthens our democracy," Boric said after voting in his hometown of Punta Arenas.
Polls, banned in the two-week run-up to the referendum, had predicted another rejection.
The process to rewrite the 1980 constitution, adopted under the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship, began as a bid to ease mass protests that broke out in 2019 against social inequality.
In a 2020 referendum, 80 percent voted for replacing the constitution.
However, four years after the protests erupted, enthusiasm has been dampened by the pandemic, inflation and economic stagnation, a growing sense of insecurity, and voter fatigue.
"There is not much spirit, as this is an exhausting process," information technology worker Nicolas Mora, 29, said after voting.
Paulina Salas, a 56-year-old homemaker, said she hopes that after this vote Chile can return to calm.
There is a need for "stability, that people can go back to work, to have safety with regard to their job and everyday life," Salas said.
'Even more to the right'
The opposition presented the vote as a referendum on Boric, who rode the wave of public discontent to be elected Chile's youngest-ever leader in 2021 at 35.
Boric, whose approval has plummeted to around 30 percent, had already suffered a setback in May when Chile's far-right Republican Party came in first in a nationwide vote to choose the members of the constitution rewrite committee.
The 1980 constitution is widely blamed for allowing companies and the elite to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, working classes.
The first rewrite included stronger protections for Indigenous rights and proposals to protect natural resources such as water, and required women to hold at least half of positions in public institutions.
Heiss said the latest rewrite "falls between the 1980 constitution and one even more to the right," especially on issues like abortion and public safety.
The new version would have aimed at enshrining the right to life from conception, which experts believe could lead to a challenge of existing laws.
Abortion was banned in Chile until 2017, when it was allowed in cases of rape, when the mother's life is at risk, or the fetus is declared unviable.
The new draft also would have allowed for the expulsion in "the shortest possible time" of undocumented immigrants, with the right blaming rising crime on an influx of Venezuelans fleeing economic crisis in their country.
The latest proposed constitution would have for the first time recognized Indigenous peoples, which make up 12 percent of the population, but did not address their request for greater autonomy.
(AFP)
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