National referendums in Chile

National referendums in Chile have been held at pivotal moments in the country's political history, most often to ratify new constitutions or to settle disputes over the legitimacy of a government. Since the first, informal plebiscite of 1812, Chile has held eleven national votes of this kind, four of them (1925, 1980, 2022, and 2023) to approve or reject a complete constitutional text. The most consequential was the 1988 plebiscite, in which voters rejected an extension of General Augusto Pinochet's rule and set in motion Chile's return to democracy. The current 1980 constitution, twice unsuccessfully replaced in referendums held in 2022 and 2023, permits a binding national referendum in only one circumstance: when the President fully vetoes a constitutional reform that Congress has approved and Congress then re-approves the same reform by a two-thirds majority in both chambers. This presidential option has never been exercised.

Background

Chile's earliest plebiscites, held while the country was still fighting for independence from Spain, bore little resemblance to a modern election. The 1812 vote to ratify a provisional charter drafted under José Miguel Carrera consisted of a public sign-in book kept open in Santiago for three days, which only 315 residents—all literate, propertied men—signed. Similar open-book signings were used to canvass support for Bernardo O'Higgins's 1817 independence proposal and his 1818 provisional constitution. It was not until 1925 that Chile held what is generally regarded as its first modern referendum, with a defined electorate casting secret ballots.

List of referendums

Year	Referendum	Turnout	Yes	No	Neither	Result
1812	Adoption of a provisional political constitution					Approve
1817	Independence proposal					Approve
1818	Adoption of a provisional political constitution					Approve
1925	Adoption of a new political constitution	45.4%	94.8%	4.1%	1.2%	Approve
Year	Referendum	Turnout	Yes	No	Null	Blank	Result
1978	Legitimacy of General Pinochet's de facto government	a	78.6%	21.4%	4.6%		Approve
1980	Adoption of a new political constitution	a	69.0%	31.0%	2.8%	1.3%	Approve
1988	Extension of General Pinochet's presidency	97.5%	44.0%	56.0%	1.3%	1.0%	Reject
1989	Constitutional reforms	93.7%	91.3%	8.7%	4.6%	1.5%	Approve
2020	On whether a new constitution should be drafted	51.0%	78.3%	21.7%	0.4%	0.2%	Approve
Year	Referendum	Turnout	MCC	CC	Null	Blank	Result
2020	On what kind of body should write the new constitution	51.0%	21.0%	79.0%	3.4%	1.6%	Constitutional Convention
Year	Referendum	Turnout	Yes	No	Null	Blank	Result
2022	Adoption of a proposed constitution	85.8%	38.1%	61.9%	1.5%	0.6%	Reject
2023	Adoption of a proposed constitution	84.5%	44.2%	55.8%	3.7%	1.3%	Reject

^a There was no electoral roll for this referendum.
Note: The percentages used in the "Yes", "No" and "Neither" columns are over the total of valid votes in each referendum. The percentages used in the "Null" and "Blank" columns are over the total votes cast in each referendum.

Colonial and independence-era plebiscites (1812–1818)

The 1812 plebiscite ratified the Reglamento Constitucional Provisorio, a 27-article provisional charter promoted by Carrera that asserted Chilean sovereignty while formally still recognizing Ferdinand VII of Spain; it established a seven-member Senate and made Roman Catholicism the only permitted religion, while also guaranteeing several individual rights.

Following the patriot victory at the Battle of Chacabuco, O'Higgins, newly appointed Supreme Director, put his independence program to a vote on 15 November 1817. The proposal passed by a wide margin, and O'Higgins's government formally declared independence three months later, on 12 February 1818. Later that year, a second plebiscite—again conducted through public sign-in books kept at parishes across the country—approved a provisional constitution of 141 articles that O'Higgins had commissioned; it created a Director Supremo with an unlimited term and only limited legislative checks, and it excluded the still royalist-held province of Concepción from voting. That charter was superseded by a permanent constitution in 1822.

1925 constitutional referendum

Main article: 1925 Chilean constitutional referendum

On 30 August 1925, voters were asked to choose between two rival drafts of a new constitution: one backed by President Arturo Alessandri and prepared by a subcommission, and a rival draft prepared by Congress. Alessandri's draft, which created a directly elected president who could not dissolve Congress and mandated the separation of church and state, was approved by 94.8% of voters, on a turnout of 45.4%. The resulting 1925 constitution ushered in decades of relative institutional stability and curtailed the influence of the traditional conservative oligarchy.

Referendums under military rule (1978–1989)

After Chile came under international criticism, including from the United Nations, for human-rights abuses committed following the 1973 coup, Pinochet called a national consultation on 4 January 1978 asking citizens to confirm the "legitimacy" of his government. The ballot's "yes" option was printed alongside a Chilean flag, while "no" was represented only by a plain black rectangle, a design intended to nudge voters toward approval. With no electoral roll in place, the government reported 78.6% support.

A new constitution, drafted behind closed doors by a commission chaired by Enrique Ortúzar with substantial input from Pinochet himself, was put to voters on 11 September 1980, again without an electoral roll. The government reported that 69.0% of voters approved the text, though the opposition, led by former senator Patricio Aylwin, disputed the result, noting the absence of voter registries and the ease of casting multiple ballots. The resulting 1980 constitution entered into a transitional regime on 11 March 1981 and provided that, after an eight-year term, a further plebiscite would determine whether Pinochet remained president for another eight years.

That vote took place on 5 October 1988. Turnout reached 97.5% of registered voters, and the "No" option—rejecting an extension of Pinochet's rule—won with 56% of valid votes, ending his presidency and setting a timetable for competitive elections the following year. Declassified U.S. government cables later revealed that Pinochet had explored using violence to annul the result before being overruled by other members of the military junta.

Following Pinochet's defeat, the outgoing government and the incoming democratic opposition negotiated a package of 54 constitutional amendments, put to a referendum on 30 July 1989. The reforms revised the procedure for future constitutional amendments, limited the government's emergency powers, formally recognized political pluralism, and strengthened constitutional rights and democratic participation. Nearly all political parties, including most of the opposition, supported the package, which passed with 91.3% approval. The 1980 constitution, as amended, entered into full force on 11 March 1990 with the return of civilian government, and it has since been amended dozens of additional times, most extensively in 2005 under President Ricardo Lagos.

Post-2019 constitutional process (2020–2023)

Amid widespread social unrest that began in October 2019, Congress agreed to hold a referendum asking Chileans whether they wanted a new constitution and, if so, which body should draft it. Held on 25 October 2020 with voluntary voting, the referendum drew a turnout of roughly 51%, the highest for any Chilean election since compulsory voting was abolished in 2012. Voters approved drafting a new constitution by 78.3% to 21.7%, and chose to have the text written entirely by an elected Constitutional Convention rather than a mixed body of citizens and sitting legislators.

The convention's draft, criticized by opponents as excessively long and left-leaning, was rejected in the "exit plebiscite" of 4 September 2022 by a wide margin of 61.9% to 38.1%, on compulsory turnout of 85.8%. Congress subsequently agreed on a second attempt, delegating drafting to an expert commission and an elected Constitutional Council, the latter won decisively by right-wing and far-right parties in a May 2023 election. The council's text, seen by critics as tilted toward private-property protections and socially conservative provisions, was put to a second referendum on 17 December 2023 and was likewise rejected, by 55.8% to 44.2% on turnout of 84.5%. President Gabriel Boric subsequently announced that his government considered the constitutional-reform process closed for the remainder of his term, leaving the 1980 constitution, as amended, in force.

Current legislation

The 1980 constitution, as amended, does not provide for referendums as a routine legislative tool. A binding national plebiscite is triggered only under the mechanism set out in Article 128: if the President fully rejects a constitutional reform bill that has already passed both chambers of Congress, and each chamber then insists on the original text by a two-thirds vote of its sitting members, the President must either promulgate the reform as passed or submit the disputed question to a popular referendum. No president has invoked this option since the provision took its current form in the post-1989 constitution, and constitutional changes in Chile have instead consistently been negotiated and approved through ordinary congressional votes.

The extraordinary constituent referendums of 2020, 2022, and 2023 were instead authorized by separate, temporary constitutional provisions enacted specifically to establish and conclude that process, rather than by the standing Article 128 mechanism.

See also

• Politics of Chile
• Elections in Chile
• Chilean Constitution of 1980
• Constitutional Convention (Chile)
• Constitutional Council (Chile)

External links

• Chilean Electoral Service – Official site