Chile: referendum on the new Constitution set for September 4

The referendum on the new Constitution in Chile, currently drafted by a Constituent Assembly, will take place on September 4, the government announced on Tuesday April 5.

," said the General Secretariat of the Presidency in a press release.

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September 4 is a symbolic date in Chile where the presidential election traditionally took place until Augusto Pinochet's military coup that overthrew the socialist president Salvador Allende, inaugurating seventeen years of dictatorship (1973-1990) .

The Constitutional Assembly began its work on July 4, 2021 to draft a new Constitution to replace the current one approved in 1980 under military rule.

After nine months of work, the Assembly voted for a three-month extension, in accordance with its statutes, which provide for a maximum period of one year.

The new text will be delivered to President Gabriel Boric on July 5 and the Chileans will have two months to analyze the text, before deciding through a referendum where voting will be compulsory.

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If approved, the text will replace the current Constitution.

In case of rejection, the latter will remain in force.

The establishment of a Constituent Assembly, where 154 elected people sit, the majority of whom are independent citizens unrelated to traditional political parties, represented a way out of the institutional crisis of the vast social uprising of October 2019 against social inequalities.