With about 62% of the vote, Chileans rejected a draft of a new constitution that included many left-wing policies promoted by the country’s new liberal president, Gabriel Boric, forcing the government to undertake writing a new one again, the Washington Post reports.
The constitution, with 388 separate articles, wanted to enscounce neo-liberalism into Chilean society, however some critics found that it abandoned what many consider Chilean identity by including a statement that the country is a “plurinational” land, acknowledging the blending of native people, European settlers and African slave populations.
The voters’ rejection of the draft restarts the process, during which many of Boric’s proposals may be included. “This is a historic moment, for which I think it’s very important that we should all, independent of our choice, feel profoundly proud,” Boric said. “In the difficult moments we went through as a country, we chose as a path, as a way to resolve our differences, an advance in more democracy and never in less.”