CHILEAN POLITICS

Online Special: Politics in Chile Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Latin America   Chilean Embassy in Washington Chile's Executive Branch (in Spanish) Spotlight on Chile Pinochet Decision from Human Rights Watch	The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour -- October 7, 1988 CHILE SAYS 'NO' TO PINOCHET In a national referendum, Chileans voted to end the government of longtime military leader Gen. Augusto Pinochet after 15 years of military rule. Pinochet said he accepted the plebiscite's results, but refused calls to end his administration immediately. Pinochet instead said he would remain in office until his term expired in 14 months later, a term set by a similar plebiscite in 1980. In an interview with Robert MacNeil, Generaro Arriagada, leader of the Chilean opposition, explained what the vote meant to members of his movement. "The meaning of the 'no' vote is that we want to have a decent agreement ... with the armed forces," Arriagada said. "And we're asking the armed forces to come to the bargaining table and to negotiate some amendment in Pinochet's constitution that would make possible a quick, peaceful transition to democracy." Though Arriagada insisted the plebicite's results amounted to a mandate for reform, Hernan Errazuriz, Chile's Ambassador to the US said there was no constitutional backing in Chile for an early departure for Pinochet. "I think that stability is very important," Errazuriz said. "And stability is the constitution. You cannot change the rules every day, and you cannot change the will of the people. The will of the people in 1980 was this constitution and this transition. You cannot forget about it."