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Chileans Vote by Millions to Tear Up Pinochet's Constitution

Reuters

   SANTIAGO - Chileans poured into the country's main squares on Sunday
   night after voters gave a ringing endorsement to a plan to tear up the
   country's Pinochet-era constitution in favor of a new charter drafted
   by citizens.

   In Santiago's Plaza Italia, the focus of the massive and often violent
   social protests last year which sparked the demand for a new magna
   carta, fireworks rose above a crowd of tens of thousands of jubilant
   people singing in unison as the word "rebirth" was beamed onto a tower
   above.

   With more than three quarters of the votes counted, 78.12% of voters
   had opted for a new charter. Many have expressed hopes that a new text
   will temper an unabashedly capitalist ethos with guarantees of more
   equal rights to healthcare, pensions and education.

   "This triumph belongs to the people, it's thanks to everyone's efforts
   that we are at this moment of celebration," Daniel, 37, told Reuters in
   Santiago's PlazaNunoa. "What makes me happiest is the participation of
   the youth, young people wanting to make changes."

   Chile's President Sebastian Pinera said if the country had been divided
   by the protests and debate over whether to approve or reject plans for
   a new charter, from now on they should unite behind a new text that
   provided "a home for everyone."

   The center-right leader, whose popularity ratings plummeted to record
   lows during the unrest and have remained in the doldrums, spoke to
   those who wanted to keep the present constitution credited with making
   Chile one of Latin America's economic success stories.

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