Chileans To Vote Overhauling Dictatorship-Era Constitution

Chileans will vote on Sunday on whether to adopt a new constitution and shift from a market-driven society to a more welfare-based one.

The proposed draft aims to replace the current constitution, written during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990).

In the country, education, health care and pensions are still in the hands of the private sector.

Proposals to legalize abortion and protect the environment as well as natural resources such as water, which are currently often overexploited by private mining companies, have also garnered much attention.

For many of the people, the thought of a new constitution that aims to de-privatise certain key sectors has raised their hopes as they want go past the dictatorship constitutions.

Many people blamed the constitution, which gave private enterprise free reign over crucial industries, creating fertile breeding ground for the rich to prosper and the poor to struggle.

France24 added that around 40 world-renowned economists and political scientists have expressed their support for the new project.

Those in favour of the new constitution say it will prompt major changes in a conservative country marked by social and ethnic tensions and lay the foundation for a more egalitarian country.

Around 15 million people will go to the ballot box in a compulsory vote on Sunday.

If accepted, Chile's congress will then start deciding how to apply the new laws. If rejected, then the current constitution will remain in place.