Chile's govt in shock loss as voters pick independents to draft constitutionDave Sherwood, Fabian Cambero and Aislinn Laing
May 17, 2021
REUTERSChile's center-right ruling coalition suffered a shock loss on Sunday night after failing to secure a critical one-third of seats in the body that will draft the country's new constitution.
With 90% of the votes counted, candidates backed by President Sebastian Pinera's centre-right Chile Vamos coalition had won only a fifth while independents picked up the most votes. New proposals will require two-thirds approval and without a third of the delegates, the government will struggle to block radical changes to the constitution unless it can forge new alliances.
The result and defeats for Chile Vamos candidates in mayoral, governatorial and municipal elections held at the same time bode ill for the ruling coalition ahead of general and presidential elections in November. ...
The meaning of all this, according to this American Thinker blogger:
Chile votes itself a one-way ticket to communist hellBy Monica Showalter
May 17, 2021
Here's a terrible story out of Chile that bodes ill for its status as Latin America's wealthiest country and biggest success story. ...
Now they're going to throw that out and have some leftists re-write the constitution to their specifications -- free education, free health care, free child care, free everything, nobody has to work. Memo to Joe: Don't expect any more of those lithium batteries you've been counting on to achieve your green new deal. The Reuters explainer says that the availability of lithium, upon which Chile holds a sizable unignorable share, is gonna change. No more private pensions, which is the crowning glory of Chile's rise to prosperity, and the reason for its vast pool of capital upon which its vast skyscrapers and long desert roads are constructed. Its education, its entrepreneurs, its huge middle class -- they are all products of this particularly brilliant reform, introduced by Jose Pinera, Sebastian's smarter older brother. ...
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