Polls open as Chile votes in referendum for change

Polling stations opened Sunday morning in Chile for a historic referendum on whether to change a dictatorship-era constitution seen as the bedrock of the nation's glaring inequalities.

The vote comes a year to the day after more than one million people thronged downtown Santiago at the start of a mass wave of social unrest that left 30 people dead and thousands wounded.

More than 14 million Chileans are eligible to vote and they are expected to turn out in numbers, although the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit Chile hard, has added uncertainty to the likely turnout.

Tables, chairs and other furniture have been disinfected in all voting centers, which will stay open two hours longer than usual to allow voters enough time and avoid overcrowding.

Chile surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, with nearly 14,000 deaths.

The protest movement, which had daily drawn thousands onto the streets, reached critical mass on October 25, 2019, and within weeks President Sebastian Pinera had agreed to initiate a process to draft a new constitution.

Demand for a new constitution had been a recurring theme of the protests, set off by a hike in public transport fares. They rapidly turned into widespread demonstrations against social and economic inequalities -- encompassing health, education and pensions -- inherited from Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule.

Chileans will be asked two questions on the ballot papers: to approve or reject a new constitution, and if necessary, what kind of body should draft it -- a mixed assembly composed equally of lawmakers and citizens, or a 155-member convention made up entirely of citizens.

Support for new constitution

Opinion polls show more than 70 percent support a new constitution, with just 17 percent voting for rejection.

Polls also indicate similar backing for a constituent all-citizen convention, to be elected in April 2021.

Their draft would be put to another referendum in 2022.

"A first aim of this constitutional process is to leave behind the shadow of Pinochet's dictatorship, in order to draw up a new constitution without the original sin of having been established under the use of force," Marcelo Mella, a political scientist at the University of Santiago, told AFP.

The second objective, Mella added, "is to be able to resolve through political and peaceful means the problems that have become structural and that trivialize the functioning of the Chilean democracy," such as inequality and social exclusion.

Rejectionists, including conservative lawmakers, warn that the constitutional process could undermine the decades of economic stability underpinned by the existing constitution, and deter foreign investment.

Their fears are fueled by the violence that accompanied the protests.

(Source: AFP)

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