Chilean residents voted to reject a conservative constitution that would have brought the South American nation closer to the right and included the limiting of some women's rights.
The vote on Sunday had roughly 96% of all votes counted with roughly 55.8% voting "no" and about 44.2% voting in favor of the new charter. It comes more than a year after Chileans resoundingly rejected a proposed constitution that was written by a left-leaning convention and one that many characterized as one of the most progressive charters worldwide.
Chile Rejects Conservative Constitution
Chilean voters reject conservative constitution that would have deepened free-market principles, reduced state intervention, and limited women's rights.
The latest document, which was largely written by conservative councilors, was viewed as being more conservative than the one that it sought to replace. It included the deepening of free-market principles, reducing state intervention, and limiting some women's rights.
The leader of the conservative Independent Democratic Union party, Javier Macaya, recognized the defeat and urged the government not to raise the issue again in the future. He noted that from a perspective of coherence and respect for democracy, they recognize the results of the recent vote, as per the Associated Press.
If the new charter does end up getting rejected, the Pinochet-era constitution, which has been amended over the years, will continue to remain in effect. That was what former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet had been hoping for when she voted early Sunday on the constitution.
Bachelet, who has campaigned for voters to reject the new constitution, said that she prefers something bad to something worse. One of the most controversial articles proposed in the new constitution draft said that the "law protects the life of the unborn."
It had a minor change in wording from the current document that some warned could make abortion fully illegal in Chile. Currently, the nation's law allows the interruption of pregnancies for three reasons, rape, an unviable fetus, and risk to the life of the mother.
The latest vote most likely ends a turbulent four-year process to replace the country's national charter. It was the second time in the past 16 months that the South American country with a population of roughly 19 million has rebuffed a proposed constitution, according to the New York Times.
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Massive Protests
The debate started in 2019 after massive protests prompted a national referendum where four out of five Chileans voted to scrap the constitution. It was a heavily amended version of the 1980 text that was adopted by the bloody military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Millions of Chilean citizens marched in the streets and voiced a spectrum of demands. These included calls for better public healthcare, fairer access to education, abortion rights, and pension reform.
Many demonstrators also singled out Pinochet's constitution as the root cause of the country's discontent. Last September, the first assembly elected to draft a new text that was dominated by left-wing forces. However, while it focused on social, Indigenous, environmental, and gender rights, voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal.
Prior to the vote, a member of the Democratic Revolution party, Nanco Antilef, found himself in a paradoxical position where he was hoping to keep the old version of the constitution. He argued that they were not defending Pinochet's constitution but instead noted that the latest proposal was far worse, said Aljazeera.
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