Chilean president calls for election of Constituent Assembly

SANTIAGO - The president of Chile, Sebastian Pinera, signed a presidential decree on Tuesday that formally calls for the election of the members of a Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution.

The elections are to be held on April 11, 2021.

"We want to ratify the total and absolute commitment of our government to this Constituent process and to the Constitution to which it will give rise," Pinera said at a ceremony at the presidential headquarters of La Moneda, in the capital Santiago.

In the Oct 25 plebiscite, Chileans overwhelmingly voted to change the Constitution to promote greater quality.

"I have full confidence that the future constituents, democratically elected by all Chileans, will live up to their ... responsibilities," said Pinera.

"They are going to put the supreme interest of Chile and Chileans first, and they are going to reach agreements to achieve a good Constitution that guides and illuminates the paths that together we are going to travel towards the future," he added.

The current 1980 Constitution was adopted during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.