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LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 21 February 2020

CHILE: Rival rallies face off ahead of plebiscite

There were none of the violent incidents which have characterised many of the other protests that have taken place since social unrest began in Chile last October. Protesters in Las Condes argued that the current constitution underpinned solid principles of democracy and freedom in Chile and cautioned against overhauling it, expressing their concern that Chile’s ‘communists’ were intent on installing a constituent assembly and a new constitution to make the country “like Cuba or Venezuela”. This in spite of the fact that the far left Partido Comunista de Chile (PCCh) was actually the sole party represented in Chile’s congress that neglected to vote on 15 November last year in favour of holding a plebiscite on a new constitution.

The protesters in Las Condes argued that reforming a few articles of the constitution would suffice and that it did not need rewriting. This line is shared by the main parties within the ruling right-wing Chile Vamos coalition. It is worth noting that Joaquín Lavín, the mayor of Las Condes, who represents the right-wing Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI), the senior partner in Chile Vamos, is presently the only politician in the country to enjoy a positive approval rating (of 63%) in the latest survey by the local pollster Cadem. This is 20 percentage points more than his closest challengers in the popularity stakes, Mario Desbordes, the congressional deputy and president of the UDI’s coalition partner Renovación Nacional (RN), and Heraldo Muñoz, the former foreign minister and president of the opposition Partido por la Democracia (PPD) (both 43%).

The Cadem survey found that 56% of respondents favour the continuation of protests, still a majority but down three percentage points on a poll conducted the previous week and by 16 points on one carried out when the social unrest began.End of preview - This article contains approximately 400 words.

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