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News > Chile

Chile: Elections Continue with Low Voter Turnout in Many Areas

  • Chileans face one of the most important elections since the return to democracy, as they vote for new mayors, councilors, and regional governors. Yet the focal point will be on the elections of constituents for the Constitutional Convention.

    Chileans face one of the most important elections since the return to democracy, as they vote for new mayors, councilors, and regional governors. Yet the focal point will be on the elections of constituents for the Constitutional Convention. | Photo: Twitter/@ChileTodayNews

Published 16 May 2021
Opinion

Four hours after the start of the second day of voting, the authorities reported that all polling stations were installed.

With 46,087 polling stations set up nationwide, out of 46,052, equivalent to 99.92%, the second and last day of voting in Chile is progressing with little influx of voters, at least during the first five hours of the process.

The Electoral Service (Servel) informed this Sunday after 11:30 am local time about installing polling stations at the national level in these mega-elections for members of the constitutional convention, governors, mayors, and councilmembers.

Servel noted that of the 46,087 polling stations set up at the national level, a total of 46,052 were already set up, or 99.92%.

Regarding the custody of the ballot boxes, the Minister of Defense, Baldo Prokurica, emphasized that no incidents were registered in this process led by the Armed Forces.

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In addition, during Sunday morning, electoral materials were distributed in the different locations of the country, such as new ballot boxes to continue with the day's electoral process.

The polling places opened on Saturday, a day when just over 20% of the voter roll voted, a figure slightly higher than 3 million people; voting is expected to increase this Sunday.

This Sunday was characterized by a delay in the opening of the polling stations, affected mainly by the fact that this last day of elections began with the reception of the ballot boxes from storage.

The ballot boxes were sealed once the Saturday voting was over, without carrying out the scrutiny that will begin at 6:00 pm local time this Sunday. 

After this, the electoral materials were transferred to a previously defined room, where they were gathered, sealed, and guarded by 23,000 members of the Armed Forces.

The polling stations will operate this Sunday between 8:00 am, and 6:00 pm and senior citizens, pregnant women, and people with disabilities will have preferential treatment to vote at all times.

After some schools reported a large number of votes inside the ballot boxes, the Electoral Service, together with the government, began to evaluate different measures to allow normal development of the second day of voting.

The Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado, said to the press that "we talked with different municipalities to ask them to have replacement or emergency ballot boxes to be able to safeguard the ones that are filling up."

"In general, the municipalities have a stock of ballot boxes (...) we ask them to activate contingency measures, and we ask the Servel to send an email to the delegates so that they take this situation into consideration," he added.

At the polling station installed at the Liceo Miguel Rafael Prado in Independencia, personnel from the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Carabineros arrived after receiving a complaint of possible adulteration of a ballot box.

It was reported that one of the ballot boxes (for gubernatorial votes) at table 106 had plastic seals that were not secured, which could have resulted in the manipulation of the votes.

This Sunday, the presidential candidates of the Socialist and Communist parties of Chile called on the population to vote in the mega-elections taking place in the country. They called to trust the results of the vote.

Despite giving a positive balance of the weekend so far, Minister Jaime Bellolio called for "more people to come out to vote."

Bellolio, head of the Secretary-General of Government (Segegob), detailed that after the closing of the polling stations, the counting of votes will be in this order: first the convention constituents, then governors, then mayors, and finally councilmen. 

Therefore, the Minister, accompanied by the head of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Juan José Ossa, projected a timetable for the first results.

"As of six o'clock in the afternoon is when the first results can be obtained from the conventional constituents, according to Sevel, which will be announced around 8:00 or 9:00 pm; then, we'll continue with the counting of the votes for governors, then mayors and councilmen."

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