Political Reordering Looming in Chile with the Election of Members for Its Constituent Assembly

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On May 15 and 16, 2021, Chileans voted to elect the members of a constituent assembly to write a new constitution. It will replace the constitution imposed on Chile by the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet, which was issued in 1980 and has been in full force since 1990. A new constitution was a major demand of the 2019 protests, which left dozens dead, but laid the foundation for Chile’s most consequential election since the return to democracy thirty-one years ago. Chileans voted for people not aligned with political parties to make up the bulk of the 155-member body that will rewrite the dictatorship-era constitution, widely condemned for its anti-democratic nature, and blamed for Chile’s marked economic inequality. Commentators throughout the region took up the case with gusto.

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