Chile: Conservatives will now control Constitution rewrite

By EVA VERGARA and DANIEL POLITI
Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile seemed on the cusp of a progressive revolution last year when a committee dominated by leftists drafted a bold new constitution to replace the country’s dictatorship-era charter. But voters have put the brakes on the effort, first rejecting the proposed constitution and now giving conservatives the leading role in writing its replacement. The far-right in Chile was the big winner of Sunday’s vote to select the members of the commission that will be tasked with writing a new constitution to replace the one imposed by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The Republican Party, which has said it opposes a new charter, obtained 23 of th commission’s 50 seats.