Santiago, Oct 26 (EFE) Easter Island residents approved by a resounding 96.3 percent majority a constitutional reform to control tourism in that tiny territory.
Easter Island is 163.6 square km in size and was declared by Unesco to be a World Heritage Site. It is located in the Pacific Ocean about 3,500 km from mainland Chile.

A total of 706 members of the Rapanui tribe, of the roughly 1,300 who comprise the electorate, participated Saturday in the popular referendum, the first to be held in Chilean territory.

Of those who participated, 678 (96.3 percent) voted in favour of undertaking a constitutional reform to regulate whether visitors to the island will be allowed to stay and for how long. Twenty-six people voted against the measure and two of the ballots cast were declared to be null.

The government will now be able to send to Congress a bill to modify Article 126 of the constitution with the aim of authorising special powers for the island’s institutions to set specific rules regulating the size and composition of the local population.

The number of the island’s residents has multiplied rapidly in recent years and now exceeds 4,000, a number that - for the original 2,000 or so islanders - is excessive and puts the remote territory’s environment and culture at risk.

To those must be added the more than 50,000 tourists who come to the island each year attracted by the unique “moais”, the huge stone head statues that have become the island’s distinctive symbols.