The new Constitution would replace the current one, drawn up during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, BBC News reports.
Last year, voters rejected a progressive draft constitution.
Efforts to replace Pinochet’s constitution, introduced in 1980, began in 2019 following anti-government protests. The protesters, many of them left-wing students, called for action against inequality and the cost of living, as well as social and political reforms.
After weeks of protests, then-conservative president Sebastián Piñera agreed to begin the process of amending the constitution.
The first draft of the Constitution prepared by the 155 elected members was rejected last September by 62% of voters.
The bill rejected yesterday was drafted by a new committee of 51 people, 23 of whom belonged to the right-wing Republican Party.
The latter project has been criticized by the left for failing to protect the rights of indigenous populations and for failing to provide for private sector participation in health services, education and pension payments.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who supported the first draft of the Constitution and abstained from the second, declared before the referendum that this will be the last attempt to reform the Constitution.
“This completes this … constitutional process. There are other urgent matters,” Boric said. “Our country continues with the current Constitution, because after two referendums on the proposed constitutions, neither of them could represent or unite Chile in its beautiful diversity.”
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2023-12-18 12:26:04
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