Grassroots activists have scored a shining victory for the Left in Chile, in elections which have proved pivotal for the country’s political future.
Local and constitutional candidate elections were held on the weekend of 14 May, and the outcome spelled bad news for the centre-right ruling coalition. After it failed to secure one-third of the votes needed to block progressive reforms, the newly elected 155-member assembly, which includes 47 independent candidates – half of whom are women – will together rewrite the constitution left over from Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. A win that has long been fought for by popular movements and dissident voices.
