Chile's Electoral body reported that more than 3,300 hopefuls have applied for selection to the commission that will rewrite the country's current constitution, a legacy of dictator General Augusto Pinochet who ruled the country from 1973 to 1990.
The Chilean Electoral Service registered 2,223 hopeful candidates for selection to the commission that will rewrite Chile's dictatorship-era constitution. The 14 million Chilean eligible are scheduled to elect on April 11 the 155 members of the Constituent Assembly that will rewrite the constitution, which dates from the rule of military dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-90).
The referendum in Chile was held on Sunday with a resounding result in favor of reforming the constitution. After last year's social protests, it was decided to consult citizens if they wanted to begin the process of promulgating a new Chilean constitution, leaving the one approved during the time of Augusto Pinochet in 1980 without effect.
By Jennifer M Piscopo and Peter Siavelis (*) – One year ago, Chileans took their anger over inequality and injustice to the streets, insisting that redressing the nation's deep structural problems would require more than reform. They said Chile would need a new constitution with more rights and better social protection.
Chileans will go to the polls on Sunday to vote on whether they want to swap a constitution written during the Pinochet dictatorship with a new document written by a specially elected citizens' body.
Chile, the world’s largest producer of copper, will use nanoparticles of the metal to disinfect voting centers ahead of this weekend’s referendum on changing the constitution, the government said Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of Chileans gathered in the central square of Santiago, Plaza Italia, renamed Plaza Dignidad, to mark the one-year anniversary of mass protests that leftover 30 dead and thousands injured, with peaceful rallies on Sunday turning by nightfall into riots and looting.
Chilean lawmakers agreed on Friday to hold a referendum next April on replacing the country’s unpopular Pinochet-era constitution, bowing to demands of protesters who say the country’s decades-old social model has created deep inequality.