Chile Goes Back to the Drawing Board After Voters Overwhelmingly Reject New Progressive Constitution

Voters in Chile have rejected a new constitution that would have replaced the country’s Pinochet-era constitution and expanded rights for Indigenous peoples and abortion seekers, guaranteed universal healthcare and addressed the climate crisis. The new charter was rejected with 62% voting “no,” and President Gabriel Boric has now vowed to continue efforts to rewrite the charter. Corporations and outside interests overwhelmingly outspent supporters of a constitution that “does not put extraction as the center of Chile’s development but people as the center of its development,” says Chilean American author Ariel Dorfman. The rejection of the constitution does not mean a rejection of its principles but the hegemony of the neoliberal status quo and a rampant disinformation campaign, says Chilean feminist Javiera Manzi, who joins us from Santiago and worked with delegates to draft the new charter.