Chileans reject a swing to the right

Voters again say no to a charter change

SANTIAGO, Chile — Chileans on Sunday rejected a new constitution that would have pulled the country to the right, likely ending a turbulent four-year process to replace their national charter with little to show for it.

More than 55 percent voted to reject the proposed text, with 77 percent of the votes counted.

It is the second time in 16 months that Chile, a South American nation of 19 million, has rebuffed a proposed constitution — the other was written by the left — showing how deeply divided the nation remains over the set of rules and principles to govern the country even after four years of debate.

That debate began in 2019 after enormous protests prompted a national referendum in which 4 out of 5 Chileans voted to scrap the constitution, a heavily amended version of the 1980 text adopted by the bloody military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

But now, after failing to agree on a new text, the nation will likely forge ahead with the current constitution, which so many people had voted to replace. That makes Sunday’s result a bitter outcome on a process that had once been hailed as a paragon for democratic participation but has instead become a clear example of how difficult democracy truly is, particularly in the internet age.

“This could have been a possibility for people to believe again in politics, in politicians. And that has not happened,” Michelle Bachelet, a leftist former president of Chile, said in an interview ahead of the vote. “Nobody will try to do a third version of this process.”

Chileans twice elected mostly political outsiders — doctors, engineers, lawyers, farmers, social workers and others — to constitutional assemblies to draft proposed charters. But those bodies ended up creating long, complicated constitutions that were each in the partisan mold of the political side that controlled the assembly.

The left-leaning assembly last year offered a constitution that would have expanded abortion rights; given Indigenous groups more sovereignty; and enshrined a record number of rights, including to housing, internet access, clean air, and care “from birth to death.” After 62 percent of ballots rejected that text, voters elected conservatives to control a new constitutional assembly. That group created a proposal that would have given the private sector a prominent role in areas like health, education ,and social security.

Each proposal engendered fierce opposition, and voters were overwhelmed with often contradictory information about how the texts would change the country. Misinformation flew from both sides.

Gladys Flores, 40, a street vendor, said Sunday that she was voting against the conservative proposal “because all of our rights will be taken away” and “our pensions will be lower.” While the proposed text would have cemented Chile’s current pension system, which has been criticized for meager payouts, it was unlikely to actually reduce pension payments or significantly take away rights.

The conversation over the proposed constitutions often devolved into debates over politics rather than policy. Leading up to Sunday’s vote, for instance, Chile’s surging far-right Republic Party, which had helped write the proposal, focused its pitch on the idea that voting for it would punish President Gabriel Boric, a leftist who has become deeply unpopular as people are concerned about a rise in crime.