Chileans Vote Against New Constitution

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Residents of Chile have voted against the text of the country's new constitution, and it will have to be written anew.

With 98.43% of the votes processed, Chile’s Electoral Service said on Sunday that the new, left-leaning constitution was supported only by 38.10%, while 61.90% of Chilean citizens voted against the draft text.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric promised to continue with the constitutional process after citizens rejected the new text.

"I promise to do everything on my part to build, together with the National Congress and civil society, a new constituent itinerary that will deliver a text that, gathering from the lessons learned from this process, manages to represent a broad majority of citizens," Boric said at a Sunday press conference.

He added that he will hold a meeting with parliamentary leaders and political parties on Monday to draw up the guidelines that will allow the process of drafting a new constitution to continue, and to collect proposals from different political sectors.

"...the Chilean people said loudly that they were not satisfied with the proposal that the Convention presented to Chile, and that requires the authorities, the political actors, that we work with more commitment and more dialogue, and move forward in creating a text that represents us all," the president said.

Chile’s current constitution was approved back in 1980, during the rule of Augusto Pinochet, and entered into force permanently in 1990. Since then, it has been amended several times, the last time - in 2018.

At the end of 2019, Chile saw violent nationwide protests, set off by subway fare hikes, with citizens calling for decent free education and healthcare, higher wages and lower tariffs. In 2020, nearly four out of five Chileans voted to have a new constitution that would grant more rights.