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September 2, 2022 · 6:05 AM GMT-4

Last Updated 5 hours ago

Americas

Chile's constitution
vote puts Andean
country at historic
crossroads
By Natalia A. Ramos 3 minute read
Miranda and Alexander
Villegas

1/2 A supporter of the "I Approve" option

holds up a banner at the closing
campaign rally ahead of a…
constitutional referendum in Santiago,
Read More
Chile September 1, 2022.
REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza

SANTIAGO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Chileans are

set for a historic decision on Sunday: stick
with a market-friendly constitution dating
back to military dictator Augusto Pinochet or
approve a progressive new text that promises
to shake up the Andean country's political
and social fabric.

The copper-rich country is sharply divided,

with polls indicating that the new text will get
rejected, despite huge popular support for
tearing up the Pinochet-era constitution two
years ago in the wake of months of fiery
protests against inequality.

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The vote is a crossroads for Chile, long seen

as a bastion of conservatism and market-
orientated economic policy, which
underpinned decades of growth and stability
that also created stark inequality between
rich and poor.

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"This is about settling a historical debt in

Chile, because despite economic growth and
lower poverty, we have outstanding debts to
do with inequality and social welfare," said
Vlado Mirosevic, spokesperson for the
approve campaign.

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Mirosevic said the new constitution was key to

overturning decades of inequality and put
progressive rights and the environment at the
heart of the country's social fabric.

Nearly 80% of Chileans voted to draft a new

constitution in October 2020. An elected 155-
member assembly, consisting of mostly
independent and progressive constituents,
then began drafting it the following May,
completing it earlier this year.

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But enthusiasm has waned as Chile's

economy has felt the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, spiraling inflation and the
currency hitting historic lows. That's hurt
support for the constitution and its backer,
progressive President Gabriel Boric.

Polls indicate the reject camp holding a near

10 percentage point lead of around 46% to
37%, according to the most recent surveys.
Some 17% remain undecided.

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Ximena Rincon, a conservative senator

campaigning against the new constitution,
said people had lost faith in the assembly
responsible for drafting the text. Lots of
uncertainty and disinformation has bogged
down the constitution also.

"The assembly wasn't representative of

society," she said, calling for a smaller, more
representative assembly to be elected if the
new constitution was rejected on Sunday.

'I VOTE NO'

Kenneth Bunker, a political analyst, said

Sunday's vote might also act as a referendum
on Boric, a young former student protest
leader who took office in March and has
supported the new constitution.

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"There will be people who see the price of

gasoline and food, and blame the
government over the economy and say that
they're the same ones who made the
constitution, and so decide 'I vote no',"
Bunker said.

Unpredictability remains, however, given the

number of undecided voters and a mandatory
vote as opposed to previous elections where
voting was voluntary.

"That's probably the biggest uncertainty, a lot

of people like to extrapolate results from
polls," said Rossana Castiglioni, a professor
of political science at Diego Portales
University.

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"But the truth is we know relatively little from

this 50%, from this half of the population that
abstains from electoral processes."

Boric has said he would launch a new process

to draft another constitution if the current
one fails on Sunday, while other political
factions want to amend the current text.
Regardless of the result, experts say Chileans
still want the change that they clamored for
in 2019-2020.

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"People are still waiting for the social agenda

that was outlined after the (2019) social
uprising, a trend that brought Boric to the
presidency," said Axel Callis, a political
analyst for pollster TuInfluyes, adding protest
anger could be reignited.

"If this doesn't lead to deep changes in terms

of social rights, health and pensions, then
we're going to be left with an explosive
atmosphere."

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Reporting by Alexander Villegas and Natalia

Ramos Editing by Alistair Bell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust

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