Chileans approve rewriting of constitution in a landslide vote

Chileans voted overwhelmingly Sunday to rewrite the country’s current constitution, which dates from the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet four decades ago.

With 99% of ballots counted, 78% of voters favored drafting a new national charter, while 22% rejected the initiative, according to official results.

The margin of victory exceeded projections in polls that about 70% of Chileans would favor a rewrite of the 1980 constitution.

The constitutional vote — a reaction to last year’s civil unrest that paralyzed this South American nation of 19 million — became a kind of referendum on the country’s future. Critics said a new constitution was needed to reform deep economic and social inequalities, while supporters of the current constitution feared changing it could lead to instability.

President Sebastián Piñera, who had maintained a publicly neutral stance on the issue, confirmed that the move to draft a new constitution had triumphed.

“Today, unity has prevailed over division,” Piñera said in an evening address to the nation. “And peace over violence. This is a triumph for all Chileans who love democracy, unity and peace.”

Thousands of Chileans gathered Sunday night in the iconic Plaza Baquedano to celebrate the vote. Fireworks marking the balloting illuminated the capital’s skyline.

Chile’s referendum, originally scheduled for April but pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was the government’s major concession to mass protests last year.

Chileans also voted for the new constitution to be drawn up by a 155-member assembly to be elected in April. Voters rejected an alternative that would have seen a mix of current lawmakers and elected citizens rewriting the constitution. The decision would appear to reflect a lack of faith in the country’s current elected leadership.

“I want a new constitution, and I want new people to draft it because trust in politicians is over,” said María José Ugarte, 30, a yoga instructor lining up to vote at Santiago’s National Stadium.

The stadium had been used as a prison camp after the 1973 military coup led by Pinochet that overthrew the democratically elected government of leftist President Salvador Allende.

“I know changes won’t happen right away, but we need radical change,” Ugarte said.

Once a new constitution is drafted — after up to a year of work —– the document would be submitted to voters in yet another referendum scheduled for 2022.

Chile’s current constitution enshrines the freemarket principles endorsed by the former military leadership.