Elections were held in Chile on 15 and 16 May 2021 after being postponed twice
[1] to elect 155 delegates to the Constitutional Convention (which will meet as of July for 9 to 12 months to draft a new constitution whose adoption will be subject to a referendum with compulsory voting); 13 regional governors the first time governors will be elected rather than designated by the President of the Republic; 345 mayors; and local council members.
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Views expressed in this commentary are those of the authors. This commentary is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.
Major hospital in Chile goes up in flames amid near collapse of public health system
The fire that engulfed San Borja Hospital, one of the major hospitals in Santiago this past Saturday, bears the hallmarks of decades of underfunding and under-resourcing of the public health system by right-wing and “left” governments alike. Amid an alarming escalation of COVID-19 cases that has national intensive care units at 92 percent occupancy, such avoidable catastrophes can only speed up the collapse of an already debilitated health system.
It is due both to good fortune as well as the decisive action and dedication of health professionals and emergency services that no one was injured. Around 300 firefighters, 40 fire engines and emergency vehicles battled the blaze after the alert was raised at around 7 a.m. In less than two hours, health staff evacuated the majority of patients, some 300 in total, to safe areas of the hospital to determine who could be discharged and to transfer other