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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Chile
Index
The Chamber of Deputies in the new parliament building in
Valparaíso
Courtesy Embassy of Chile, Washington
The National Congress building in Valparaíso
Courtesy Embassy of Chile, Washington
Inaugurated on July 4, 1811, the National Congress
became one
of the strongest legislative bodies in the world by the
end of the
nineteenth century. The 1925 constitution reaffirmed the
commitment
to a bicameral system made up of a 150-member Chamber of
Deputies
and a fifty-member Senate. However, that charter
diminished
congressional prerogatives by barring members of Congress
from
occupying ministerial posts, restricting the legislature's
power
over budget laws, and giving the president considerable
legislative
powers, including the right to designate particular
legislation as
"urgent." Nevertheless, Congress remained a critical arena
for the
formulation of national policy, serving as the most
important
institution for cross-party bargaining and consensus
building in
Chile's fragmented political system. Congress produced
fundamental
legislation, such as laws establishing social security
(1924), the
Labor Code (1931), the minimum wage (1943), Corfo (1939),
restrictions on the PCCh (1948), and agrarian reform
(1967).
Congress also had an important means of oversight in its
authority
to accuse ministers of wrongdoing.
Under the 1980 constitution, Chile retains a bicameral
legislature composed of the Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate,
both of which play a role in the legislative process.
However, the
1980 charter reduced the Chamber of Deputies to 120
members, two
for each of sixty congressional districts. All deputies
serve for
four years on the same quadrennial cycle. Upon taking
office, all
deputies must be citizens possessing the right to vote.
They must
be at least twenty-one years old, must have completed
secondary
education, and must have lived in the district they
represent for
at least two years. The 1980 constitution also reduced the
Senate,
to thirty-eight members, who serve eight-year terms, with
half of
the body coming up for election every four years. Senators
must be
citizens with the right to vote, must be at least forty
years old,
must have completed secondary school, and must have lived
in the
region they represent for at least three years. High-level
government officials, including ministers, judges, and the
five
members of the Central Bank Council, are barred from being
candidates for deputy or senator until a year after they
leave
their posts. Leaders of community groups or other
associations also
are not permitted to become candidates unless they give up
their
posts.
In addition to the elected senators, the Senate has
nine
designated senators (eight since the death of one in
1991), all of
whom serve eight-year terms. The Supreme Court names two
from the
ranks of former members of the court and one who has
served as
comptroller general. Cosena designates four senators, each
a former
commander of each of the armed services who held that post
for at
least two years. Finally, the president of the republic
designates
two senators, one who has been a university president and
the other
a government minister (Article 45). All former presidents
who
remain in office for at least six years of the eight-year
term are
automatically senators for life. Pinochet, the only former
president alive when the current Senate was installed in
March
1990, opted instead to remain commander in chief of the
army, a
post that is constitutionally excluded from a senatorial
position.
The appointed senators played a somewhat surprising role
in the
Aylwin government by not always acting in unity with the
rightist
opposition, as the government feared they would. Indeed,
these
senators occasionally served as bridges between the
government and
the armed forces, helping to diffuse tensions and avert
misunderstandings.
The Chamber of Deputies carries out its duties by means
of
thirteen permanent commissions, each one of which is
composed of
thirteen deputies. The Senate has eighteen commissions,
each with
five members. Most of the commissions correspond to a
ministry
responsible for a similar substantive area. Mixed
commissions,
composed of members from both houses, are charged with
resolving
discrepancies between the houses on particular pieces of
legislation.
The constitution establishes a hierarchy of laws that
must be
approved by majorities of various sizes. Ordinary laws are
approved
by a simple majority of the members present in both
chambers. Laws
requiring a qualified quorum must be approved by an
absolute
majority of all legislators. An example would be a law
redefining
the boundaries of regions or provinces (see
table 38,
Appendix).
Organic constitutional laws, designed to complement the
constitution on key matters, require approval by
four-sevenths of
all members to be modified, repealed, or enacted into law.
Finally,
laws interpreting the constitution require the approval of
three-
fifths of all legislators for enactment.
Constitutional amendments can be initiated by the
president,
ten deputies, or five senators, and they require the
concurrence of
three-fifths of all legislators and the signature of the
president
to be approved. Key provisions dealing with such matters
as rights
and obligations, the Constitutional Tribunal, the armed
forces, and
Cosena require the assent of two-thirds of the members of
each
chamber and approval by the president. If the president
rejects a
constitutional reform measure that is subsequently
reaffirmed by
Congress by at least a three-fifths vote, he or she can
take the
matter to the voters in a plebiscite.
Congress has the exclusive right to approve or reject
international treaties presented to it by the president
before
ratification, following the same procedure used in
approving an
ordinary law. Although the president, with the consent of
Cosena,
can institute a state of siege (see
state of exception,
Glossary),
Congress, within a period of ten days, can approve or
reject the
state of siege by a majority vote of its members.
In case the office of the president is left vacant and
there
are fewer than two years left in the presidential term,
Congress
can select a presidential successor through a majority
vote of its
members. Should the vacancy occur with more than two years
left in
the presidential term, a new presidential election would
be called.
The Chamber of Deputies can also initiate a constitutional
accusation by majority vote against the president,
ministers,
judges, the comptroller general, admirals, generals,
intendants of
regions, and governors of provinces for violations of the
law,
constitutional dispositions, or abuse of power. The
Senate, in
turn, acts as a jury and finds the accused either innocent
or
guilty as charged. If the president of the republic is
accused, the
conviction depends on a two-thirds majority in Senate. The
Senate
is also required to give the president permission to leave
the
country for a period of more than thirty days or for any
amount of
time during the last ninety days of the presidential term.
Further,
the Senate can declare the physical or mental incapacity
of the
president or president-elect, once the Constitutional
Tribunal has
pronounced itself on the matter.
The original constitutional provisions of 1980
virtually barred
the Senate from exercising oversight of the executive
branch or
expressing opinions on the conduct of government. These
provisions
were removed from the constitution in the 1989 amendments.
The
amendments also eliminate the president's power to
dissolve the
Chamber of Deputies. The constitution of 1980, however,
severely
limits the role of Congress in legislative matters
relative to
earlier legislatures in Chilean history. Article 62 states
that
"the President of the Republic holds the exclusive
initiative for
proposals of law related to changes of the political or
administrative division of the country, or to the
financial or
budgetary administration of the State." Article 64 of the
constitution also restricts the budgetary prerogatives of
the
legislative branch.
In several areas, the president is given sole authority
to
introduce bills. These include measures involving
spending, changes
in the duties and characteristics of public-sector
administrative
entities, modifications to the political-administrative
configuration of the state, and initiatives related to
collective
bargaining. The president can also call the legislature
into
extraordinary session, at which time the legislature can
only
consider legislative and treaty proposals introduced by
the
president. The president may grant certain initiatives
priority
status, requiring that Congress act within three, ten, or
thirty
days, depending on the degree of urgency specified. In
this sense,
the president has the exclusive power to set the
legislative agenda
and, therefore, the political agenda. In a further
restraint on
legislators, the 1980 constitution permits the
Constitutional
Tribunal to remove a senator or deputy from office if he
or she
"permits the voting of a motion that is declared openly
contrary to
the political constitution of the State by the
Constitutional
Tribunal" (Article 57).
Finally, Congress is limited in its ability to act as a
counterforce against the president's power in matters
dealing with
the constitutional rights of citizens. Although the
president needs
the approval of the majority of Congress to establish
states of
siege, the president may declare a state of assembly,
emergency, or
catastrophe solely with the approval of Cosena (Article
40).
Important legislative initiatives approved during the
Aylwin
government have included, in the political sphere,
constitutional
changes leading to the creation of democratic local
governments;
laws reforming the administration of justice, including
the
treatment of political prisoners and terrorism; and the
creation,
in 1990, of a cabinet-level agency, Sernam, to pay special
attention to women's issues. In the sociocultural area,
changes
included a revision to the National Education Law
(Estatuto
Docente) to "dignify" the teaching profession and
establish a
"teaching career"; a reformulation of student loan
programs; and
measures designed to simplify the reporting of petty
crimes and
robbery and increase the powers of the police in dealing
with such
crimes. Congress also approved measures to regulate
collective
bargaining and recognize labor organizations. In the
economic
sphere, the most important legislation enacted into law
included
the Industrial Patents Law, designed to ease Chile's
entrance into
international markets; the lowering of tariff barriers;
and the
creation of a price-stabilization fund for petroleum. In
the
international sphere, Congress approved various treaties
of
economic cooperation (including one with the European
Economic
Community) and ratified the findings of the Bryan
Commission, a
joint commission with the United States that settled the
case of
the 1977 assassination of Chilean ambassador Orlando
Letelier in
Washington, which had constituted a long-time source of
conflict
between Chile and the United States.
During the Aylwin administration, relations between the
executive and Congress were conducted through an informal
network
of bilateral commissions composed of ministers and their
top
advisers and senators and deputies of the governing
coalition
working in the same policy area. However, these meetings
proved
less important than the weekly gatherings presided over by
the
minister of interior with party leaders of the CPD
coalition,
leaders of the CPD parties in the legislature, and the
secretary
generals of the presidency and the government. At these
weekly
meetings, the legislative agenda was discussed and decided
upon.
This pattern of decision making signified, in practice,
that
individual members of Congress and the legislature itself
had
assumed a secondary and pro forma role, following the
instructions
of legislative leaders in their close negotiations with
government
and party leaders. Nor did congressional committees or
members of
Congress have enough staff and expertise to deal with
experts from
the executive branch on complex legislative matters.
Individual
legislators could articulate concerns and provide
important
feedback, but early in the postauthoritarian period the
legislature
appeared to be playing a decidedly secondary role.
Data as of March 1994
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