Polls close in Chile and vote counting begins on the new constitution proposal

The polls closed in Chili on Sunday and the counting began to find out if the 15 million Chileans who were summoned approved or rejected the new constitutional proposalconservative in nature, with which to replace the Magna Carta in force since the dictatorship.

“Table 231 is closed″, “242 closes, closes”, chanted loudly at six in the afternoon, local time, the table members warning with three last calls to those stragglers at the Liceo de Application in the center of Santiago.

The electoral atmosphere left a feeling that not only were the more than 39,300 voting stations closed, but the “constituent process”as the government spokesperson, Camila Vallejo, said hours before.

Whether the option is imposed “in favor” and the new text comes into force as if the Constitution in force since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet is rejected and maintained, the intention of the government of Gabriel Boricin the remaining two years of his mandate, is not to push for a third attempt.

The new text, written by a majority of constituents from the right and extreme right, is more conservative than the one it seeks to replace both morally and economically, since it would deepen the principles of the free market, reduce State intervention and could limit some rights, such as reproductive rights.

The vote took place in the midst of general boredom among citizens and a year after Chileans rejected another project with 62% of the votes, then drafted by a constituent with a left-wing majority, which many described as one of the initiatives most progressive constitutional institutions in the world.

For this reason, it was paradoxical that it was the left and the ruling party that promoted keeping in force the Constitution bequeathed by Pinochet (1973-1990), which has been reformed up to 70 times.

“I prefer something bad to something terrible”said former President Michelle Bachelet, who campaigned for “Against” and the defense of women’s rights, after voting early in the morning.

On the other hand, the former president Sebastian Piñerathe conservative in whose government the social outbreak of 2019 took place that caused the beginning of this constitutional process, asked to close four years of “sacrifices” and “uncertainties” to have “a constitution approved in full democracy, that gives us the stability, the unity, the projection that Chile needs.”

Boric voted a little later from his native Magallanes, in Chilean Patagonia.

Four years ago thousands of Chileans took to the streets to demand better pensions, health, and education and to end inequalities. These were unprecedented protests in the history of the South American country considered one of the most stable democracies in the region.

Now, after repeated electoral events that involved swings from one end of the political spectrum to the other and the failure of all political sectors to seek consensus proposals, Chileans just want to close the issue no matter what. No protests were expected at any of the results.

“The entire process itself has been a waste of resources for the State… a mockery,” he said.added Johanna Anríquez, a 38-year-old civil servant, who voted against the proposal because she considered it “very extremist.”

“Let’s stay with what is and please dedicate yourself to working on security” which is what worries citizens the most, he asked politicians.

The new constitutional proposal states that Chili It is a social and democratic State that “promotes the progressive development of social rights” through public and private institutions. Its detractors claim that, although there is freedom of choice in health, education or pensions, only those with purchasing power will be able to choose.

The feminist groups They fear that the change in the wording of the new proposal to protect life “whose” is about to be born could pave the way to repeal abortion on the three grounds approved in 2017 (rape, risk to the mother’s life or non-viability of the fetus). In addition, they denounce setbacks in matters of social services or political participation.

Fernando Escudero, a 77-year-old retiree, also complained that the text declares water “a consumer good” and not a human right in a country with a severe water crisis. “I read the entire text, it is very bad, although the previous text was also very bad but it had redeemable things.”

The initiative also contains controversial elements on issues such as immigration by enshrining the expulsion of irregular immigrants. “as soon as possible”, conscientious objection by institutions, the right to strike or tax exemption from paying contributions for the first home. Likewise, those who may benefit from house arrest due to age or illness convicted of serious human rights violations.

For some families to vote in Chile’s National Stadium, one of the largest detention centers after the 1973 coup, “It’s a revenge.” of democracy over dictatorship, said designer Valeria Salzmann, 44.

And for Jaime Fones, 87, a former marathon runner and former merchant marine who had to go into exile after the coup, the memories of when he trained here are mixed with those of “the savage slaughter they did” the military, said from his wheelchair, confident that the new proposal will not be approved.

César Campos, a 70-year-old taxi driver, who expected the victory of the vote, thinks very differently. ‘In favor’ because with the left ““There is no investment, there is no productivity, as has been seen in Argentina” and the new Constitution guarantees it. “With the right the country walks”he sentenced.

“Boric loves everyone the same. “Why does someone who studies or works all their life have to share that?” He added after criticizing the lack of formality of the president who instead of riding a car rides a bicycle.

Although the latest polls gave an advantage to rejecting the text, on Sunday there was uncertainty due to the high number of undecided or changing opinions.

The 72-year-old Peruvian, María Caballero, a domestic worker with almost three decades in the country, said she had not decided on the vote while standing in line to vote.

Claudio Morales, a 28-year-old mechanic who said he had voted in the past for the ultra-conservative Revolutionary Party and supported some measures such as immigration control, pointed out that this time he did not follow the line of that group. He rejected the two constitutional proposals because, in his opinion, “Chile’s laws are not bad, the problem is taking advantage of what we have and applying them.”

Whether the result is imposed or not, the ruling party will not have much to celebrate since citizens remain very critical of the growing insecurity, which has doubled although Chile continues to be at the bottom in crime in the region, and with linked corruption cases, the most recent, to one of the parties in the ruling coalition.