05/16/2021 8:14 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 05/16/2021 8:14 PM
Chile concluded this Sunday an unprecedented two-day election
to elect the 155 citizens
who will draft a new Constitution and thus bury the one inherited from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, with the expectation of creating new rules that allow greater social equity.
The polling places began to close at six in the afternoon (19 in Argentina) after two electoral days in which there were no incidents.
On Saturday, more than three million voters (20.44%) out of a total of 14.9 million called to vote voluntarily went to the polls.
Chileans had to choose among 1,373 candidates
to join the Constitutional Convention, among them actors, writers, teachers, social activists, lawyers and also traditional politicians.
The previous Magna Carta, drawn up during the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990), is
considered to be the origin of social inequalities in Chile.
The election was held in two days due to the pandemic, after being postponed for five weeks, from April 11, in the face of a new wave of covid-19.
"
This is the most important election
that Chileans have had, this will mark the future of the younger generations," Felipe Gutiérrez, a 32-year-old engineer on leaving a polling station in Santiago, told AFP.
The data on participation by regions and communes indicate an important difference in the influx of voters in the wealthiest and most conservative sectors, markedly greater than in poorer areas.
The constitutional reform was the way that the Chilean political system found
to appease the massive demonstrations
that broke out on October 18, 2019, leaving about thirty deaths and millionaire damages in commerce and public furniture.
Political agreement
Almost a month after the beginning of those protests, when several buildings were burning in Santiago, the political forces
announced an agreement
to call a plebiscite to decide on the change of the Constitution, which was finally held on October 25, 2020.
An overwhelming 80% supported the "I approve" option
for constitutional change on a day that culminated in massive demonstrations.
The 20% who opted for the "Rejection" concentrated in the three richest communes in Chile.
"I come (to vote) with the expectation that we can achieve a change for the country, that we can build a new Constitution very distant from that Constitution left to us by the dictatorship," Guillermo Guzmán, a 57-year-old architect, told AFP .
In addition to constituents, Chileans
vote on the occasion for mayors, councilors and, for the first time, regional governors
, in another step towards a more participatory society.
The constitutional process also marks the first time in the world that a Constitution will be written by people elected equally.
It will also make history by reserving
17 places at the convention for the 10 indigenous peoples.
"I can confess that I voted only for women, I did not give my vote to any man because I believe that it is also part of the change, that women can take positions of power and that they listen to us," said Fabiola Melo, educational psychologist from 35 years.
The hope of the political world is that the constituent process - which
will last nine months
, extendable only once for three months - will turn the page on the long political transition that began once Chile regained democracy in 1990.
Never before have Chileans had the opportunity to participate in the drafting and vote for a new Constitution, which, according to various polls, they hope will guarantee them various social rights, such
as access to health, housing or education.
"A good part of the
future of our country is
at stake here to write a Constitution that unites us, not one that separates us, like the current one," said progressive presidential candidate Heraldo Muñoz, after casting his vote on Saturday.
A survey by the company Criteria, released by the newspaper La Tercera, showed on Saturday that
63% of Chileans trust
that the result of the new Constitution will have "positive consequences for the country."
A minority is afraid, however, that it could lead to a very leftist Constitution that radically changes Chile's ultra-liberal economic and political model.
Source: AFP and AP
PB
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