Chile right-wing government coalition withers in constitutional vote

Chile’s right-wing government coalition likely secured fewer than a third of the seats on the Constitutional Assembly in this weekend’s historic elections, making it more difficult to block major changes and leaving independent and the opposition left-wing parties with more sway to rewrite the new charter.

Around 6 million of Chile's 15 million eligible voters participated.

Contenders from the government coalition’s main list ('Let's Go Chile') obtained 21% of votes with over 90% of ballots tallied, electoral office Servel said on Sunday.

The results put them on track for 38 of the body’s 155 spots, according to calculations from consultancy firm Unholster.

Having fewer than 33% of seats would leave center-right members at disadvantage in the Assembly, as all articles have to be approved by a two-thirds majority.

The left-wing 'Approve Dignity' list garnered 19% (28 seats); the center-left 'Approve List', 15% (25 seats); the left-wing 'People's List' 15% (22 seats).

A heterogeneous group of independent, mainly left-wing candidates unexpectedly secured more than 60 seats.

At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-15/chile-votes-for-who-will-rewrite-constitution-after-mass-unrest

Supporters for left-wing parties celebrate the results of this weekend's historic constitutional convention election in Santiago, Chile.

Early results give an array of left-wing coalitions a wider-than-expected victory over the ruling 'Let's Go Chile' coalition led by center-right President Sebastián Piñera.

Barring disagreements, these coalitions will thus have a clear path toward shaping a new constitution to the replace the 1980 document promulgated by the late dictator Augusto Pinochet.