Two years ago, when Chile began the process of drawing up a new 21st-century constitution to replace its dictatorship-era charter, proponents hoped it would usher in a new era of togetherness.
But as the country prepares to vote on Sunday on whether to adopt the proposed social contract, a sharp economic downturn coupled with a wave of disinformation, disillusionment and sometimes violent street campaigns have cast a pall over the process that every poll indicates will be rejected.
“In the beginning, there was big support for change but the new text is not encouraging people to come out in support,” said José Antonio Cousiño, 75, a former civil servant who lived through the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He said he would vote against the new constitution, saying it was “utopian” and tilted too far to the left.