Chile president says referendum will be last attempt at constitutional reform

Chileans will go to the polls on December 17

Chile's President Gabriel Boric said on Wednesday that a referendum due in December will be his government's second and last attempt to reform the constitution, saying the country needs stability.

Chileans will go to the polls on December 17 to decide whether or not to adopt a new constitution to replace the one in force since 1980, when the country was led by the late dictator Augusto Pinochet.

"We have had, for some years, some uncertainty, for example, in our constitutional process," Boric said during a forum of business leaders in San Francisco. "But I can assure you... whatever the result that the people choose, that process will come to an end."

"In order to have long-term development we need certainty. And certainty is what a serious country like Chile can provide with the fiscal management we have of our economy," added Boric, who is participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the United States.

"My country, I can assure you, it's moving forward and we can do much in the future".

The proposed document is a second, more conservative attempt to give Chile a new constitution.

A first proposal, drafted by a majority-left constituent assembly and supported by Boric, was rejected by a large majority in a referendum last year.