Why Chileans rejected conservative constitution, and what’s next?

Another vote on a new constitution seems highly unlikely at least until 2025 as the leftist President Gabriel Boric wants to focus on policy changes.

Chileans on Sunday voted to reject a proposed conservative constitution, dismissing for the second time in a little over a year a replacement for the dictatorship-era charter.

A progressive draft, which attempted to enshrine environmental protections and Indigenous rights, was rejected last September. The proposed constitution would have reinforced property rights and free-market principles.

But the rejection wasn’t out of an abundance of love for the current document – which was seen as enabling some of the main structural issues dogging the South American nation.

So, let’s take a look at the latest vote, why Chileans wanted to replace the current constitution, and what next.

The proposed constitution was drafted by a committee dominated by the conservative Republican Party. Its tenets comprised reinforced property rights and free-market principles in addition to limits on immigration and abortion.