First modification:
Rejection triumphs in all Chilean regions in this Sunday’s plebiscite. 62% of the population chose to repudiate the new constitutional proposal, three years after the social outbreak and two years after massively approving changing the current Constitution in force since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. President Gabriel Boric has asked to meet with all political sectors to promote a new constituent process.
From our special envoy to Santiago, Melissa Barra.
“A lot of calm, I feel a great relief,” Francisca Garzón, a young actress who came out to celebrate the result of the constitutional plebiscite this Sunday, September 4, tells RFI from the streets of Santiago.
According to Servel data, 61.9% of Chileans rejected the proposal for a new Magna Carta drafted by the Constitutional Convention and presented on July 4. In all the regions of the country the “no” option was imposed.
The approval received 38.1% of the votes, in a historic vote in which 12.8 million Chileans participated, that is, 85% of the electoral roll. Something never seen before.
“Now that they improve the Constitution that is currently in place, we don’t want a popular document written by a political faction,” reacts another Santiago resident on her way to the center of the capital.
Thousands of Chileans came out to celebrate. Flags and car horns took to the streets.
The rejection wins with 62% of the vote, with almost all the polling stations counted. The approval was 38%.
The supporters of the rejection did not wait to take to the streets of Santiago and celebrate. pic.twitter.com/RQUL8934x5
— Melissa Barra (@MelissaBarrra) September 5, 2022
And now that?
“The people of Chile have spoken and they have done so loudly, clearly,” declared President Gabriel Boric and called on all the parties and representatives of civil society to meet starting Monday at the Palacio de La Moneda, with the aim of “acting in unity”.
Boric also reiterated his commitment to a new constituent process, this to respect the entry plebiscite in 2020 when 78% of the population decided that a new Constitution should be drafted, to replace the one that has governed since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
The Chilean government insists that many laws that it seeks to promote cannot prosper with the 1980 Constitution, such as the tax reform.
period of uncertainty
In these last few days a formula has frequently been presented: that of transversal agreements, that is, the pacts that will have to be achieved with the different political sectors. The ruling party does not wait for the result to start negotiating with the opposition.
Multiple scenarios open up and the road will be long and uncertain before knowing what new constitutional format the country will adopt, either through a new Convention or a committee of experts.
A change of cabinet
“Facing these important challenges will require prompt adjustments in our government teams,” the president also said.
For analysts, the plebiscite also served to calculate the approval levels of the management of these first six months of government, His disapproval had reached 54% in recent weeks.
It is almost a fact that there will be a cabinet change, possibly this week.
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