THE SIGNIFICANCE of last week's Chilean plebiscite will deceive no one. Called by President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte as a means of discrediting critics in the United Nations and other international organizations that have repeatedly condemned the Pinochet regime for systematically violating human rights, the plebiscite was nothing more than an elaborate charade in which the formal trappings of democracy were used to justify its demise.

According to the Pinochet government, over 75 per cent of the five million participants in the plebiscite affirmed their support for the present government "in the face of international aggression." Critics, however, were quick to point out that citizens were forced to vote, that dissidents were permitted only limited opportunities to campaign against the government, that only government officials had access to the ballots after the election, and that many voters apparently voted in support of the government out of fear that a "no" vote would lead to reprisals.

Despite these criticisms, Pinochet has taken the position that the election results constitute a vote of confidence in his government, and he has used the results to justify his decision not to hold new elections for at least eight more years. In so doing, Pinochet has played out a grim encore to his brutal overthrow of the Allende government only four years ago.