Chilean voters rejected on Sunday a proposed conservative constitution to replace the country’s dictatorship-era charter.
With 96 per cent of votes counted late Sunday, about 55.8 per cent had voted “no” to the new charter, with about 44.2 per cent in favour.
The vote came more than a year after Chileans resoundingly rejected a proposed constitution written by a left-leaning convention and one that many characterized as one of the world’s most progressive charters.
The new document, largely written by conservative councilors, was more conservative than the one it had sought to replace, because it would have deepened free-market principles, reduced state intervention and might have limited some women’s rights.
Javier Macaya, the leader of the conservative Independent Democratic Union party, recognised the defeat and urged the government not to raise the issue again.
“From a perspective of coherence and respect for democracy, we recognise the results,” Macaya said.
If the new charter winds up being rejected, the Pinochet-era constitution — which was amended over the years — will remain in effect.
That is what ex-President Michelle Bachelet had hoped for when she voted early Sunday.
“I prefer something bad to something worse,” said Bachelet, who has campaigned to reject the new constitution.
One of the most controversial articles in the proposed new draft said that “the law protects the life of the unborn”, with a slight change in wording from the current document that some have warned could make abortion fully illegal in the South American country. Chilean law currently allows the interruption of pregnancies for three reasons: rape, an unviable fetus and risk to the life of the mother.
Another article in the proposed document that sparked controversy said prisoners who suffer a terminal illness and aren’t deemed to be a danger to society at large can be granted house arrest. Members of the left-wing opposition have said the measure could end up benefiting those who have been convicted of crimes against humanity during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
The new proposed document, which says Chile is a social and democratic state that “promotes the progressive development of social rights” through state and private institutions, was also opposed by many local leaders who say it would scrap tax on houses that are primary residences, a vital source of state revenue that is paid by the wealthiest.
