'Historic Opportunity': Chile Holds Vote To Replace Dictatorship-Era Constitution

After a wave of mass protests, and amid a pandemic, the people of Chile go to the polls Sunday for a historic referendum over whether the country should scrap its dictatorship-era constitution and write a new one.

Opinion surveys suggest the electorate will vote "yes," bringing an end to the 40-year-old charter that was imposed during the rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and has long been seen by many Chileans as the underlying source of many of their grievances.

The vote comes a year after Chile's capital, Santiago, erupted in anti-government protests that were triggered by a small rise in public transportation fares, but which developed into a prolonged uprising over social and political inequality and spread to other cities.

Tensions are running high ahead of the referendum, stoked by violent skirmishes last Sunday at a gathering of tens of thousands of Chileans commemorating the one-year anniversary of the start of the mass protests. Several police stations were also attacked, and two churches were burned.