Chile to Scrap Pinochet-Era Constitution in Landslide Referendum
- Voters backed writing a new charter by margin of 78.3%-21.7%
- Referendum followed a year of protests against inequality
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Chile voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to draft a new constitution, launching a two-year struggle over first principles expected to blunt the neo-liberalism that has made it an investor favorite but plunged it into riots over inequality.
A larger-than-expected 78.3% backed a fresh charter, a key demand of protesters who took to the streets last year in the largest civil unrest in decades. The current document dates back to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.