Chile: Rocky Road To New Constitution

Santiago, Sept 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Sep, 2022 ) :Chileans head to the polls for a referendum on September 4 to vote on a proposed new constitution that would overhaul the country's dictatorship-era system.

Here is a timeline of the country's turmoil since bloody protests broke out nearly three years ago, in which a new constitution was a key demand.

- 2019: violent clashes - Protests in Chile's capital, Santiago, against a rise in metro fares on October 18, 2019, escalate into clashes between police and demonstrators angry at gaping social inequality.

Center-right president Sebastian Pinera declares a state of emergency.

Soldiers are deployed in the city the following day for the first time since the end of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

Pinera -- a billionaire -- suspends the ticket price hike, but protests and clashes continue.

- 'Chile is awake' - The state of emergency is extended to other regions as protests spread with people chanting: "Chile is awake." About 30 people are killed.

Pinera apologizes and announces more social spending on October 22, but a general strike begins with leaders demanding the military return to barracks.

After some 1.2 million Chileans take to the streets in Santiago on October 25, the curfew and state of emergency are lifted and Pinera reshuffles his cabinet.

The street movement continues.

- Constitutional referendum - In a breakthrough on November 15, lawmakers agree to a key opposition demand for a referendum on replacing the Pinochet-era constitution.

The government follows this up in early December with a $5.5-billion social plan, and a month later, the president announces reforms of the health system.

The United Nations, meanwhile, denounces multiple rights violations by police.

- 2020: New clashes - After a period of calm despite demonstrations every Friday in Santiago, new clashes in late January 2020 turn deadly, with four people killed.

Violence erupts again on February 23 at Vina del Mar near Valparaiso, and then in early March in several other towns.

The president announces police reform.

- Virus, referendum put off - Chile declares a "national disaster" in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, with protests paused and a referendum -- originally scheduled for April -- postponed until October.

- 'Yes' to new constitution - On October 25, Chileans vote by nearly four to one (79 percent) for a new constitution to be drawn up.

- 2021: more delays - In late March 2021, Chile locks down four-fifths of its population as the virus surges again. The election of the constituent assembly charged with revising the constitution is put off to May.

- Leaning left, new president - A third of newly-elected members of the constitutional convention -- a majority left-leaning -- are independents, with no single group winning a majority.

In the presidential election at the end of 2021, many voters after a polarized campaign -- driven either by anti-communist sentiment or fear of a return to rightwing tyranny -- opt to cast a protest vote for the candidate they consider the "lesser evil." Leftist candidate Gabriel Boric wins the election on December 19.

- 2022: progressive prospects - The new president introduces several measures addressing the economy and social rights.

In April he presents a recovery plan of 3.7 billion Dollars, notably to help families and create 500,000 jobs.

On July 4 Chile's constitutional convention hands its draft to Boric. If adopted, it will make Chile one of the most progressive countries in the region.

In the first of the new constitution's 388 articles, Chile is described as "a social and democratic State of law," as well as "plurinational, intercultural and ecological."As well as recognizing the different peoples that make up the Chilean nation, the new constitution accords a certain amount of autonomy to Indigenous institutions, notably in matters of justice.

The right to elective abortion would become enshrined in law. It is today permitted only if there is a risk to the life of the pregnant woman, in cases of fetal non-viability and rape.