Chile’s vote to end Pinochet-era constitution a beacon for democracy
If anyone wondered what became of the fury that shook Latin America’s pre-pandemic streets, Chileans have an answer. On Sunday, they voted by a 78% majority to allow a new constitution and, by a like margin, for an independently elected body to do the rewrite. More people went to the polls (51% of the electorate) than in the second round of the 2017 presidential elections. Hold the teargas and water cannon. Cue the fireworks and national anthem.
Chile was due for a believing. “It’s the sentiment that Chile is run by an entrenched elite who take turns at the helm, in a country with stubbornly high levels of inequality,” economist Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, who teaches at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, told me. “All the structural inputs for a mass rejection of the status quo are there.”..
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