Bucking the trend of most Developing Markets' currencies, the Chilean peso has surged to three month highs against the greenback this morning after voters on Sunday rejected a progressive constitution that would have drastically changed the country.
Chilean stocks also soared,,,
The draft text would have replaced the current constitution, which dates to 1980, when dictator Augusto Pinochet was in power.
As Caden Pearsen reports from The Epoch Times, over 13 million residents of Chile voted in a referendum either for or against the proposed changes to the South American country’s Constitution.
With nearly all the votes counted, 62 percent voted to reject while 38 percent voted to approve, according to the Chile Electoral Service.
Participation in the referendum was mandatory.
The failed proposals would have tilted the current Constitution to the left, with text focused on social rights, environmentalism, gender equality, and indigenous rights.
The path to the referendum began in late 2020, when 80 percent of Chileans voted to draft a new constitution. But polls revealed that uncertainties grew amid concerns around the constituents elected to draft it, Reuters reported.
One 54-year-old Chilean, who in 2020 voted to draft a new constitution, on Sunday voted alongside her daughter to reject the proposed text. She expressed concern that certain proposals would impact her pension.
“The main one is [indigenous] plurinationality and then pension funds,” Rosemarie Williamson said in comments obtained by Reuters.
“I’ve worked my whole life and I’m not willing to share that.”
Try, Try Again
Leftist President Gabriel Boric, who voted in the southern city of Punta Arenas early on Sunday, acknowledged the results on Sunday...