So far, polls indicate that the constitutional plebiscite will be approved by the majority of Chileans.
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Chilean President Piñera's Disapproval Increases to 83%: Survey
During the campaign, the country's political parties will broadcast their message house to house, in streets, on radio and television, to call on Chileans to vote for or against repealing the current Constitution.
So far, polls indicate that the constitutional plebiscite will be approved by the majority of Chileans: 67% of the population is in favor of a new constitution, compared to 27% who are against it, according to the consulting firm Cadem.
However, the social movements and supporters of the center and left suggest not to be ingenious, according to the country's progressive media.
"The coming months will be extremely polarised. Parties, especially those on the right-wing, will appeal to emotions such as fear, instead of raising a campaign of ideas, based on the people's benefits," told local press the academic Claudia Heiss, a specialist from the University of Chile.
"Today the campaign for the plebiscite on April 26th, where the communists voted, officially began: We invite everyone to vote "Approval." Dare to dream!"
The pre-plebiscite campaign, the most important process since 1988, when Pinochet's military dictatorship was ended, is taking place in a context marked by extreme violence and accusations against the Chilean security forces for human rights violations.
For the current government of President Sebastián Piñera, the plebiscite is the ideal opportunity to neutralize the serious crisis that the country has been experiencing since last October, which has so far left more than 30 people dead and thousands injured.
If the plebiscite is approved, the election of the constituents will be held in October. The new Constitution, which must be drafted in a maximum of one year, will be ratified in another plebiscite, this one with a compulsory vote.
Chile's current Magna Carta came into force during the Pinochet dictatorship and is seen as the origin of the inequality that affects the country.
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Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
