Chilean voters overwhelmingly rejected a new, progressive constitution in a referendum on Sunday, following a nearly two-year process aimed at reflecting a wider range of voices in the nation’s document.   

  With nearly all ballots counted, 62 percent of voters rejected the proposal with 38 percent voting in favor, according to Chile’s Electoral Service.   

  The proposed constitution, which had the support of leftist President Gabriel Boric, included 388 articles that would greatly expand social rights, increase environmental regulation and give the government greater responsibility for social welfare programs.  It would also provide full gender equality and add designated seats for indigenous representatives.   

  The document was rejected in all of Chile’s provinces, including the more progressive capital of Santiago and its metropolitan area, where voters had overwhelmingly supported Boric in last December’s presidential election.   

  Boric responded to the defeat in a live televised address to the nation after the polls closed on Sunday.   

  “Today the people of Chile spoke and they did so loud and clear,” Boric said.  “They have given us two messages.  The first is that they love and value their democracy… The second is that the people of Chile were not satisfied with the proposed constitution and therefore decided to reject it clearly at the polls.”   

  Images from Santiago on Sunday showed a somber mood among supporters of the constitution, while others celebrated the news that it had been voted down.   

  The current constitution was written under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile with an iron fist from 1973 to 1990. Supporters of the new constitution wanted a break from Chile’s authoritarian past and a document that reflected the interests of communities that, according to them, he had been ignored.   

  The proposed change began in 2020 when then-president Sebastien Piñera called a referendum to create a new constitution amid social unrest and popular discontent that sparked a subway fare hike in October 2019.   

  In October 2020, more than 78% of Chilean voters approved a referendum proposing constitutional change, and in June 2021 they voted again to choose members for a constituent assembly.   

  The Constitutional Convention was the first in the world to have full gender equality and the first in the country’s history to include designated seats for indigenous representatives.   

  Supporters hoped his progressive stance would be reflected in a new, updated constitution.   

  And the constitutional process itself was praised internationally for giving the country an institutional way out of a social crisis and for responding to the demands of modern Chileans for more equality and a more inclusive and participatory democracy.   

  According to University of Chile professor Robert Funk, the removal of vestiges of the past imposed by Pinochet was a key driver for the creation of a new constitution.   

  “The existing constitution in Chile was originally written in 1980 under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.  Since then, it has been modified many, many times.  but it was always contested because it was imposed during a dictatorship,” Funk said.   

  After much discussion, the final draft of the revised constitution was submitted to Boric, Piñera’s successor, in July of this year.   

  However, although most Chilean voters supported the idea of ​​constitutional change in October 2020, divisions emerged over the proposed plan.   

  Soon after the plan was made public, various polls began to show a growing trend towards rejection of the map, with the government publicly acknowledging this scenario.   

  The defeated constitution would be one of the most progressive in the world, giving the state a leading role in providing social rights.   

  The draft placed a heavy emphasis on indigenous self-determination and environmental protection, and would have dismantled the highly privatized water rights system.  It demanded gender equality in all public institutions and companies and enshrined respect for sexual diversity.  It also envisioned a new national health care system.   

  But the project became bitterly divisive.   

  The right argued that the draft would shift the country too far to the left or that it was too ambitious and difficult to turn into effective laws.  Before the vote, even some of the left’s supporters wanted adjustments to be made, with their slogan “I approve the reform”.   

  The opposition has pledged to launch a new process to rewrite the constitution, promising voters that the next one will better reflect their interests.   

  In his speech on Sunday, Boric noted that this was not the end of reform efforts.   

  “This decision of Chilean men and women requires our institutions and political actors to work harder, with more dialogue, with more respect and care, until we arrive at a proposal that interprets us all, that is credible, that unites us as a country”.  Boric said.