2020 Chilean constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum was held in Chile on 25 October 2020. The referendum asked the citizens whether they wanted a new constitution to be drafted, and if so, whether it should be written by a constitutional convention made up of directly elected citizens or by a mixed convention that was composed of currently serving members of Parliament and half of directly elected citizens. The "Approve" side won by a landslide, with 78% of voters agreeing to draft a new constitution. When it came to deciding how the new text should be written, 79% of voters opted for a "Constitutional Convention." The voter turnout was 51%.
A 2021 [Chilean Constitutional Convention election|second vote] was held between 15 and 16 May 2021, in conjunction with the municipal and gubernatorial elections. This vote elected the members of the Constitutional Convention. The new draft constitution was then rejected in a third vote held on 4 September 2022.
The plebiscite was a response to the 2019 Chilean protests, particularly the so-called "biggest march of Chile", which took place in Santiago on 25 October 2019, and was participated in by over 1.2 million people.
Postponement
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the plebiscite originally scheduled for 26 April 2020 was rescheduled to 25 October 2020 by the Congress on 24 March 2020. Similarly, the subsequent Convention election, originally set for 25 October 2020, was moved to 11 April 2021, and later to 15–16 May 2021. This rescheduling required a constitutional reform, which was promulgated by the President and published in the country's Official Gazette on 26 March 2020.Campaign
Parties supporting Approve
Parties supporting Reject
Opinion polls
| Do you want a new constitution? |
| Approve |
| Reject |
| Don't know/No answer |
| Line represents 3-week moving average for each option. |
| What kind of body should write the new constitution? |
| Constitutional Convention |
| Mixed Constitutional Convention |
| Don't know/No answer |
| Line represents 3-week moving average for each option. |
Results
First ballot: "Do you want a New Constitution?"
| Choice | Votes | % |
| Approve | 5,899,683 | 78.31% |
| Reject | 1,634,506 | 21.69% |
| Valid votes | 7,534,189 | 99.48% |
| Null votes | 27,381 | 0.36% |
| Blank votes | 12,344 | 0.16% |
| Total votes | 7,573,914 | 100.00% |
| Registered voters/turnout | 14,855,719a | 50.98% |
| Voting age population/turnout | 15,052,382 | 50.32% |
a Includes 59,522 electors voting from abroad.
Source: .
| Region/Province | Approve | Reject | Null | Blank | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Antofagasta | 129,379 | 24,735 | 468 | 146 | 154,728 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| El Loa | 55,285 | 10,739 | 372 | 103 | 66,499 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tocopilla | 11,149 | 1,210 | 45 | 22 | 12,426 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
''' AntofagastaSecond ballot: "What kind of body should write the New Constitution?"
a Includes 59,522 electors voting from abroad. Source: .
|