Chile authorities present new constitution for popular vote News
Escaños Convencion Constitucional
Chile authorities present new constitution for popular vote

Chile’s Constitutional Convention Monday presented the final draft of its new constitution to President Gabriel Boric. The new draft will be voted on by Chile’s population. The mandatory vote will ask citizens whether to accept or reject the new constitution. Chile’s current constitution dates back to the 1970s when military dictator Augusto Pinochet was in power.

The new constitution calls Chile a “multinational, intercultural, regional and ecological” state. It also recognizes the equality of human beings and the population’s “indissoluble relationship with nature.”

Chileans will head to the polls on September 4th—two months after the final draft’s presentation—to vote on whether to accept or reject the new constitution.

In October 2020, Chile held a plebiscite where Chileans overwhelmingly voted to rewrite the constitution, with almost 80 percent of voters supporting a new constitution. In May 2021, the Constitutional Convention was elected, and it began drafting ideas. In December 2021, the country elected a left-wing millennial to the presidency—Gabriel Boric. That same month, Chile’s congress voted to legalize same-sex marriage.