10/25/2020 8:19 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 10/25/2020 8:19 PM
The voting tables for Chile's historic constitutional plebiscite
closed after 12 hours of operation this Sunday
, in an electoral process that arose in response to the massive social protests that erupted a year ago.
The Chileans went out to vote en masse on a day in which
long lines of voters were seen at the polling stations,
and in the afternoon protesters began to arrive at the central Plaza Italia in Santiago an hour before the polls closed.
It is expected that the results will be quickly and that they will be updated on the website of the Chilean Electoral Service (Servel) as the polls send their counts.
All the experts and the media mentioned that during the day there was
greater citizen participation
, in a country with low records in this item, so it is expected that the 49% who voted in the second presidential round (7,032,523) will be exceeded. votes) that delivered the victory to President Sebastián Piñera in 2017.
In the case of winning the "Approve" option,
on Sunday, April 11, 2021, the election will be held to elect the constituents
, either from a Constitutional Mixed Convention (made up of 50% by constituents and 50% by members of Congress ) or a Constitutional Convention (made up of 100% by citizens elected for this purpose with equal composition between men and women).
The constituents will have
a period of nine months
to write the new Constitution, extendable only once for three months.
Then, the president
must call a mandatory ratification plebiscite to approve the new constitutional text.
Thousands of protesters began to arrive, after 6:00 p.m.,
at Plaza Italia
, an emblematic center of demonstrations in the Chilean capital and the epicenter of the marches that began in October 2019 that put the government of Sebastián Piñera in check and resulted in an agreement between the ruling party and the opposition to call the constitutional plebiscite held today.
Carabineros, the Chilean police, had taken over the square and tried to prevent the demonstration, but after several minutes of tension and confrontations,
they withdrew
so the protesters took control of the renamed "Plaza de la Dignidad".
During the day, the long lines and the strict sanitary measures due to the coronavirus marked the historic day in Chile.
Without official data on the percentage of voters yet, the influx observed throughout the country and the estimates of the media, led analysts to suppose that
the 50% turnout
of the last presidential elections in the country, where the vote it's not mandatory.
The Electoral Service (Servel) established a health protocol to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (with more than 500,000 confirmed cases and almost 14,000 deaths in the country) during the plebiscite, such as the mandatory use of chinstraps, alcohol gel, social distancing and
quotas inside the voting centers
, leading to long lines around them.
At the National Stadium, one of the largest voting centers in the country, thousands of people lined up in long lines to exercise their right to vote.
Source: AFP and Télam
PB
Look also
Plebiscite in Chile: What are the criticisms of the 1980 Constitution imposed by the Pinochet dictatorship?
Plebiscite in Chile: How is the country doing, after a year of protests and the coronavirus hit?
