Chileans are one step closer to voting for a new constitution that would replace the charter imposed by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
The country’s constitutional assembly presented a draft of the proposed new constitution Monday to President Gabriel Boric during a ceremony in Santiago. The text includes 388 articles that recognizes the existence of Chile’s Indigenous groups and focuses on social issues such as environmental, health care, housing and gender equality.
A referendum to approve the proposed new constitution will be held on September 4. The referendum comes two years after Chileans voted overwhelmingly to replace the one implemented in 1973 by Pinochet, and revised throughout his brutal 17-year reign, that favors free-market economic initiatives. Massive and violent protests erupted in 2020 over income and social inequality.
But public support for the proposed charter has fallen since the beginning of the year due to the chaotic drafting process during the year-long assembly.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
