Chile to get rid of constitution drafted by dictator Pinochet

Chile announced on Friday it would stage a referendum to replace the country’s dictatorship-era constitution next year.

The protest that began in Santiago on October 18 against a rise in rush-hour metro fares has mushroomed into an outcry against the status quo. Picture: Getty Images

Chile announced on Friday it would stage a referendum to replace the country’s dictatorship-era constitution next year — a key demand of protesters after nearly a month of sometimes violent civil unrest.

The current charter, in force since 1980 and enacted by the former military junta of Augusto Pinochet, has been changed ­numerous times since, but it does not establish the state’s responsibility to provide education and healthcare — two demands made by millions of Chileans who have taken to the streets.

Deputies in Chile’s National Congress agreed on Friday to hold the plebiscite next April after hours of negotiations between the governing coalition and opposition parties.

The referendum will ask voters whether the constitution should be replaced and if so, how a new charter should be drafted, Senate president Jaime Quin­tana said.

The unrest that began on Oct­ober 18 with protests against a rise in rush-hour metro fares has mushroomed into a broader outcry against the status quo, with burning, looting and daily confrontations between demonstrators and police. The crisis is Chile’s biggest since its return to democracy in 1990, leaving 20 dead — five at the hands of state forces — and more than 1000 injured.

Protesters cite low wages, high costs for education and healthcare and a yawning gap between rich and poor in a country dominated by a few elite families.

Demonstrators have demanded greater social reform from President Sebastian Pinera, who has announced several measures in a bid to appease the public mood.

After weeks of demonstrations, most polls show the protest movement is supported by 75 per cent of Chileans. A slightly larger number — 87 per cent, according to a survey by pollster Cadem published this month — say they favour the protesters’ demand for constitutional reforms.

A few days after Mr Pinera became president last year, his government said it would not allow the consideration of a bill to amend the constitution that his socialist predecessor ­Mich­elle Bachelet had submitted to congress.

AFP