Some 15 million voters in Chile are being asked today, Sunday 4/9, to finalise or reject the process of revising the country's constitution, launched after a violent popular uprising in 2019 with the central demand for more social justice.
Today's referendum, in which participation is mandatory, will decide whether to replace the current Constitution, a legacy of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), which, despite the revision of several articles, is still always considered an obstacle to any in-depth social reform.
It has bred an extremely unequal society
The basis of Chile's neoliberal model, to which its proponents credit decades of stability and economic growth, has bred an extremely unequal society.
The main purpose of the proposal is to enable the state to guarantee Chilean citizens the right to public education, public health, a pension and decent housing.
It also provides for the guarantee of the right to abortion, a deeply divisive issue in a country where such procedures were not legalized until 2017 for cases of pregnancy due to rape or risk to the life of the mother and child, as well as environmental rights and the recognition of indigenous peoples.
Source: APE-MPA
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