Bachelet, after voting in Geneva: "Our destiny is in everyone's hands"

The former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet went to the polling station today Geneva (Switzerland) to participate in the Constitutional Plebisciteat the beginning of a day in which he asked Chile for encouragement and enthusiasm when voting “Because our future, our destiny, is in the hands of all of us.”

Bachelet, who this week ended her four years at the helm of the UN Human Rights Office, cast her ballot at around 10:00 local time in Geneva (8:00 GMT) and, leaving the voting center, expressed her hope that “people go to vote calmly and with great hope”.

“Today’s Plebiscite is a democratic and participatory process that means that as Chileans we are capable of continuing to perfect democracy”Bachelet told the media, who stressed that whatever the result of the plebiscite, the following steps must be taken with “calm and dialogue”.

The former president, in favor of the option I approveremembered again the verses of Paul Milanes commenting on his opinion on the draft Constitution (“It’s not perfect, it’s closer to what I just dreamed of”) and stressed that even if that option were to win, there is a will among supporters to be able to specify or make adjustments to the text.

In case he won the Reject option, he remembered“what the President of the Republic (Gabriel Boric) has proposed is that a new convention be opened” constitutional.

On the other hand, Bachelet clarified that she will return to Chile at the end of the year, that for now she has not been offered any institutional role, and considered “science fiction” the rumors that suggest she has been offered the Secretary General of the United Nations.

“It would be absurd for someone to offer it to me when we have a general secretary (António Guterres) for four more years,” he stressed, although he also indicated that there are many and frequent calls for a woman, perhaps Latin American, to occupy that position of maximum responsibility in the UN in the future.

In Swissthose called to participate in the Constitutional Plebiscite are 1,853 members of the Chilean community: 1,074 at the polling station Bernthe national capital, and others 779 in Geneva.

In previous elections it had only been possible to vote in Bern, but on this occasion another participation center has been created in Geneva given that an important part of the Chilean community in the country lives in this city or in Lausanne, located about 70 kilometers away.

Many Chileans arrived at the polling place, a Protestant parish in the Chêne-Bougeries neighborhood, as soon as the polls opened, at 8:00 local time (6:00 GMT), and in the first hour of voting they had already participated around 70 Chilean citizens.

The atmosphere in these first hours was almost festive: many Chileans were photographed while depositing the ballot, applauded after doing so, and also cheered and applauded Bachelet when she arrived at the polling station.

“All of us who fight to recover the vote are happy to be able to vote today, and for me it has been a nice experience to vote in Geneva thanks to the right to vote abroad that we managed to approve in a democracy”commented the former president.

EFE

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