'A Victory for the Whole Country': Chile to Hold Referendum on Rewriting Constitution

The Chilean government on Friday officially began the processs of writing a new constitution for the country by approving a popular referendum, a bow to the demands of the nationwide protest movement that began in Santiago on October 15. 

The referendum will ask the country to weigh in on whether the old constitution, a relic of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, should be replaced. Voters will also have the opportunity to determine how the new document is drafted. 

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“This is a victory for the whole country,” Senate president Jamie Quintana, a frequent critic of Chilean President Sebastien Piñera, said in a press conference early Friday. “We offer for the first time a constitution that is 100% democratic.”

Quintana called the proposal the beginning of a “building of a true social contract” and hoped that the process would mark the end of violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces that have seen at least 20 people dead. 

Friday’s announcement marks a formalization of a government declaration Monday that the constitution would be rewritten, though no timeline was given then.