Chile: Over 1M Indigenous People Can Vote in April 11 Elections

Chile's Electoral Service (SERVEL) informed that over 1 million Indigenous people are eligible to cast their vote in the April 11 elections to decide local authorities and members of the Constituent Convention. 

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The electoral body confirmed that 1,239,295 Indigenous people are qualified to elect 17 representatives from 10 Indigenous communities that were recognized to participate in the drafting of the new Constitution.

The Mapuche Indigenous community represents 86 percent of the Indigenous people's electoral roll, followed by the Aymara, Diaguita, Atacameño, Collas, Quechua, Rapanui, Changos, Kawashkar, and Yaganes communities. 

The Metropolitan, La Araucania, and Los Lagos regions are the departments with the highest number of Indigenous people voters.

SERVEL also informed that nearly 3,000,000 candidates will contest the elections in 28 electoral districts to secure one of the 155 seats approved for the Constituent Convention.

The Constituent process began on Oct. 25, 2020, when a plebiscite approved the replacement of the Constitution inherited from Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990). 

Last week, Chile's President Sebastian Piñera submitted to Congress a bill seeking to divide the elections into two days so to observe COVID-19 health regulations.