translated from Spanish: Citizen Consultation: The majority would be in favor of a new Constitution and mandatory vote

During this day the Chilean Association of Municipalities (AChM) released the first results of the process in which more than 1.5 million people participated nationally. The first report was made from the computer center located at the University of Santiago by the president of AChM, Germán Codina, together with the rectors Juan Manuel Zolezzi (Usach) and Ennio Vivaldi (U. of Chile). The building enhanced the participation of the consultation and delivered the results for 29 communes. Among the data they emphasize that the option to draft a new Constitution is being imposed by a wide margin, by obtaining 846,110 of the preferences, versus the 80,378 people who are against, with 1,528 white and zero 329, from a universe of 928,345. In the question of the mechanism for drafting the new magna letter, the majority option is the constituent convention (345,393), which involves only and exclusively elected citizens for this purpose, secondis the mixed convention ( 138,647) proposes a body composed of equal shares of elected citizens and parliamentarians in office. In addition, 3,239 voteed blank and there were 810 nulls, from a universe of 488,089 voters for this question. According to Mayor Codina, “a huge effort as municipalities, against wind and tide, was made. You saw the way there were even people who were happy to try to boycott the process, that all you’re looking for is to generate a milestone that goes beyond ideological differences. The most important thing is to listen to the citizens. Chile needs its democracy to go beyond electing authorities every four years. Chile needs democracy to cease to be so representative and to become a more participatory, more direct democracy.” He added that the purpose was to give “the kickoff and that it was also understood as a fundamental input for the government and for the Congress in the construction of that Chile fairer than we all need, and above all the most vulnerable people in the country , so that development reaches all Chileans.” In another item in the consultation, a large majority (687,681 people) indicated that they believe the vote of the new Constitution should be mandatory, while 106,395 believe that it should not be. It should be noted that the consultation also included other questions related to social demands and the national contingency, the priorities in this regard would be: – Improving pensions and dignifying the lives of older adults (492,014)- Improving the quality of public health and its funding: (486,054);- Ensuring access and quality of public education (331,564). On another point, related to the municipalities, in the face of the question of giving them greater powers and resources, this option was supported by 483,248 people, while 65,490 were expressed against them. And finally, in the face of the consultation on reducing VAT on necessities, 484,111 voters spoke in favour, and 28,356 expressed their rejection of the idea.

Original source in Spanish