Irish Examiner view: Victory for new political maturity

Opponents of the new Constitution cheer as they listen to results of a plebiscite on whether the new Constitution will replace the current Magna Carta imposed by a military dictatorship 41 years ago.

Hopes that Chile was about to embark on a new era of social harmony with a final rejection of laws enshrined by the country in 1980 under the rule of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship appear to have been dashed by the comprehensive rejection of a proposed new and radical constitution.

With 99.9% of votes counted on Sunday, 61.9% of Chileans rejected the new progressive constitution — as against 38.1% in favour — as brought before them by the recently elected president Gabriel Boric, leader of the Social Convergence party.