“I hope we have a constitution that captures the spirit of our country.”Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said after the vote in the capital.

This constitution would replace what was drafted in 1980 under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. “This election will define the constitution that will guide us for the next 40 or 50 years.”, Underscores Claudio Fuentes, a scholar at the School of Political Science at the University of Diego Portals. This ballot “of course” The most important thing in 31 years of democracy, he believes. “A new Chile is in danger.”

The rewriting of the Constitution is one of the demands of the largest social movement of recent decades, which began in October 2019 to demand a more egalitarian society. The change in the existing basic law, which severely limits the functioning of the state and promotes private activities in all spheres, including education, health and pensions, seems to remove an essential impediment to profound social reform. Countries of Latin America.

According to the poll, more than 60% believe that the current constitution has created a system that benefits only a select few.