Voters approve a new Constitution of Chile, later amended after the departure of President Pinochet.
The Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile of 1980 (Spanish: Constitución Política de la República de Chile) is the fundamental law in force in Chile. It was approved and promulgated under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, being ratified by the Chilean citizenry through a referendum on September 11, 1980, although being held under restrictions and without electoral registers. The constitutional text took effect, in a transitory regime, on March 11, 1981, and then entered into full force on March 11, 1990, with the transition of democracy. It was amended for the first time on 1989 (through a referendum) and afterwards, on 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, these last three with relation the current constituent process. In September 2005, under Ricardo Lagos' presidency, a large amendment of the Constitution was approved by parliamentarians, removing from the text some of its more anti-democratic dispositions coming from Pinochet's regime, such as senators-for-life and appointed senators, as well as the Armed Forces' warranty on the democratic regime.
Finally, soon after a series of popular protests in October 2019, on November 15, 2019, a political agreement between parties with parliamentary representation open the call of a national referendum on the proposal of writing a new Constitution and the mechanism to draft it. The plebiscite was held on October 25, 2020, resulting in the approval of drafting a new fundamental charter, as well as choosing a Constitutional Convention fully elected through popular vote to fulfill this objective. The members of the convention were elected in May 2021, and the Assembly first met on July 4, 2021.