Some three million Chileans, or 20% of the electorate, voted Saturday, May 15 for the first of two days of a poll considered the most important in the history of their democracy during which the 155 citizens who will write will be elected. a new Constitution intended to close the Pinochet era.
Read also: Chile votes to have a new Constitution
"
The electoral process was successful,
" said Andrés Tagle, President of the Executive Council of the Electoral Service (Servel), during a press conference two hours after the end of this first day of voting which will continue on Sunday. .
According to electoral service data, three million people participated in the vote on Saturday, which corresponds to 20.44% of the 14.9 million voters called to the polls to elect the 155 people who will draft the country's new constitution.
The authorities had decided to hold these elections over 48 hours due to the coronavirus epidemic and to postpone the vote initially scheduled for April 11.
"
I hope we will have a Constitution that captures the soul of our country,
" Conservative President Sebastian Piñera said after voting in Santiago.
This Constitution will replace the one drafted in 1980 under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
It is also the fruit of one of the demands resulting from the biggest social uprising in recent decades, which began in October 2019 to demand a more egalitarian society.
