The Constitution of 1980, like its predecessor of 1925, provides for a
bicameral system in which the National Congress consists of two arms, the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. In Chile, the Congress has two main functions: (a) the Co-legislative Power and (b) the Monitoring Power.
http://www.congreso.cl/
The 1980 Constitution, like that of 1925, established a presidential system of
Government, vesting the government and administration of the State in the
Executive Power. The present Charter has established a strong executive,
increasing and strengthening the powers of the President of the Republic and
curtailing certain powers held by the Parliament before it came into force.
The executive is a part of the Legislative System and has pre-eminence
through three constitutional arrangements: (a) the exclusive initiative of the
President of the Republic in administrative, social and economic matters
(Article 62, third and fourth indents); (b) the urgent processing of bills and
the grading of that urgency (Article 71), which procedure requires the
Congress to reach a decision within thirty days; in addition, the grading of
urgency as ordinary, extreme or for immediate debate (30, 10 and 3 days
respectively, in Article 27 of Law 18918, the basic law of the Congress) also
falls to the Executive and not to the Parliament as was the case under the
The Constitution of 1980, like its predecessor of 1925, provides for a
bicameral system in which the National Congress consists of two arms, the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. In Chile, the Congress has two main functions: (a) the Co-legislative Power and (b) the Monitoring Power.
The 1980 Constitution, like that of 1925, established a presidential system of
Government, vesting the government and administration of the State in the
Executive Power. The present Charter has established a strong executive,
increasing and strengthening the powers of the President of the Republic and
curtailing certain powers held by the Parliament before it came into force.
The executive is a part of the Legislative System and has pre-eminence
through three constitutional arrangements: (a) the exclusive initiative of the
President of the Republic in administrative, social and economic matters
(Article 62, third and fourth indents); (b) the urgent processing of bills and
the grading of that urgency (Article 71), which procedure requires the
Congress to reach a decision within thirty days; in addition, the grading of
urgency as ordinary, extreme or for immediate debate (30, 10 and 3 days
respectively, in Article 27 of Law 18918, the basic law of the Congress) also
falls to the Executive and not to the Parliament as was the case under the
The Constitution of 1980, like its predecessor of 1925, provides for a
bicameral system in which the National Congress consists of two arms, the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. In Chile, the Congress has two main functions: (a) the Co-legislative Power and (b) the Monitoring Power.
The 1980 Constitution, like that of 1925, established a presidential system of
Government, vesting the government and administration of the State in the
Executive Power. The present Charter has established a strong executive,
increasing and strengthening the powers of the President of the Republic and
curtailing certain powers held by the Parliament before it came into force.
The executive is a part of the Legislative System and has pre-eminence
through three constitutional arrangements: (a) the exclusive initiative of the
President of the Republic in administrative, social and economic matters
(Article 62, third and fourth indents); (b) the urgent processing of bills and
the grading of that urgency (Article 71), which procedure requires the
Congress to reach a decision within thirty days; in addition, the grading of
urgency as ordinary, extreme or for immediate debate (30, 10 and 3 days
respectively, in Article 27 of Law 18918, the basic law of the Congress) also
falls to the Executive and not to the Parliament as was the case under the
Constitution of 1925; and (c) the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Session
periods (Articles 51 and 52): only during the ordinary period may members
of Parliament initiate laws, under the name of Motions. That period lasts
from 21 May to 18 September and therefore lasts but four months whilst,
during the extraordinary period from September to May (7 or 8 months), the
executive alone holds the initiative in putting forward bills (Messages). The
legislative function of the Members of Parliament has therefore been
restricted, for we see that for a large part of the year only the President of
the Republic has the initiative on laws and, when they do have the initiative,
during the ordinary session from May to September, their power is seriously
diminished by the “urgencies” requested by the Executive for its bills.
II. Composition off and recruitment to the Senate
The Chamber of Deputies comprises 120 members elected directly by the
electoral districts established by the Constitutional Organic Law on Popular
Voting and Elections (Article 43).
But the Senate consists of members elected by direct vote in senatorial
constituencies covering thirteen regions of the country (Article 45). Each
region comprises a single constituency, apart from six which are each divided
into two constituencies by the constitutional organic law (Transitional Article
30). Each constituency elects two Senators. The six regions in which there
are two electoral constituencies are Valparaiso, Santiago Metropolitan, el
Maule, el Bio-Bio, Araucania and Los Lagos (Nos. V, VII, VIII, IX, X) and
the Metropolitan Region. The directly-elected Senators therefore are 38 in all,
with 26 from the thirteen Regions (electing two each) and the other 12 being
elected in the six regions with two Senatorial constituencies, as described in
the paragraph above.
In addition, the Senate comprises the Senators known as institutional or
appointed, as provided for in the Constitution. These are:
(a) those ex-Presidents of the Republic having held office for six years;
(b) two ex-Ministers of the Supreme Court, elected by the Court;
(c) one ex-Comptroller General of the Republic who has served for two
years;
(d) four ex-Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces and Carabiniers, one
from each Force;
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99
(e) one ex-Rector of a State University or University recognized by the State
who has held the post for two consecutive years; and
(f) one ex-Minister of State who has held office for two consecutive years.
The institutional or appointed Senators hold office for eight years and, if
they die or cannot serve during that term, they cannot be replaced until after
their term, in accordance with the Fundamental Charter (Article 45, fourth
indent). Under these arrangements, there are at present eight institutional
Senators who, together with those elected, make a total of 46 Senators.
III. Requirements fer election as senator
To be elected as Senator, one must: (a) be a citizen entitled to vote; (b)
have resided for two years in the region concerned; (c) have completed
Middle Schooling or the equivalent; and (d) be at least forty years of age
(Article 46).
IV. Term of office for elected senators: replacement
These Senators hold office for eight years and are replaced every four
years in alternation, at one time replacing those representing the oddnumbered regions and the next time those representing the even-numbered
regions plus the Metropolitan Region. Hence, of the Senators elected in 1989,
some have mandates expiring in four years and others have mandates which
expire in eight years (Article 45, second indent). Members of Parliament may
be re-elected to office (Article 47).
V. Vacancies for members of parliament: no fresh parliamentary election
A seat vacated by a directly-elected Member of Parliament is to be taken
by the citizen who was on the electoral list of the Member ceasing to serve
and would have been elected had the list been for some other office. If the
above rule does not apply and there remain more than two years to the end
of the term of the previous office-holder, the seat is to be filled by the
Chamber concerned, by an absolute majority of its serving members, from a
list of three put forward by the party of the person causing the vacancy
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100
(Article 47, third indent). The new member of parliament is to hold office for
the period remaining to the previous member (Article 47, fourth indent). The
Charter expressly provides that by-elections are not to be held under any
circumstances (Article 47, fifth indent).
B. THE MONITORING POWER
The Chamber of Deputies monitors the Executive Power in accordance
with its powers chiefly by means of impeachment1
(Article 48). The
Chamber of Deputies holds this monitoring power on an exclusive basis.
In order to exercise this power, the Chamber may by a majority voftgof
the Deputies present, adopt resolutions or suggest observations to be
forwarded in writing to the President of the Republic, and the Government
must give an answer through the relevant Minister of State within thirty days.
In no circumstances will such resolutions or observations affect the political
responsibility of the Ministers and the Government will be held to have
discharged its obligations simply by delivering its answer (Article 48.1). Any
deputy may seek specified details from the Government provided that his
proposal is voted for by one-third of the members of the Chamber present.
I have referred to this monitoring power of the Chamber of Deputies
because there has been discussion for many years on the Senators’ power to
request details of the Government on the most varied subjects (social, publicworks, transport, education, telecommunications, economics, and so on) and
the Senate has always held that such requests for information are not “monitoring” since the details are sought in the name of the Senator who requests
them, and the Chamber does not pass a resolution on the matter or suggest
any specific observations. The request for details is sent in the name of that
Senator and on his sole responsibility.
In any case, the Government has so regarded it and generally answers the
request or sends the details concerned, without that raising any liability of a
political kind. It is held that the Senators’ requests on various matters sought
from the Executive are intended solely to facilitate the parliamentary work of
the Senators and in no way constitute monitoring acts in the sense specified
in either paragraph of Article 48.1 of the Fundamental Charter.
Translator’s note: literally “constitutional accusation”
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101
The second monitoring power concerns the “political trial” (also known
as “impeachment”) (Article 48.2). The Chamber of Deputies has the power to
declare whether charges, brought by neither more nor less than twenty of its
members against the following individuals for the acts specified in each
instance, are good (Article 48.2):
(a) by the President of the Republic;
(b) by Ministers of State;
(c) by judges of the higher courts of justice or the Comptroller General of
the Republic;
(d) by generals or admirals; and
(e) by Intendants or Governors.
If the impeachment is supported with levels of quorum as specified by
the Fundamental Charter, it moves to the Senate of the Republic, which body
has the exclusive power of hearing any impeachments which the Chamber of
Deputies brings under the rules described above (Article 49.1).
The Senate has to decide as a jury and is to restrict itself to declaring
whether the accused is guilty of the crime, offense or abuse of power stated.
The declaration of guilt must be supported by two-thirds of the Senators in
office where an impeachment is brought against the President of the Republic
and by a majority of the Senators in office in all other cases.
Senators in office means those which have been admitted to the Senate,
with the exception of those suspended under a constitutional provision
(Article 58, last indent) and of those absent from the country with constitutional consent (Article 5 of Senate Standing Orders).
A declaration of guilt strips the accused of his office and he may not
exercise any public function, whether by election of the people or otherwise,
for a period of five years. An official declared guilty is to be prosecuted in
accordance with the law by the proper court, both as regards imposition of
the penalty for the offense, if one has been committed, and to assign civil
liability for loss and damage caused to the State or individuals .
The procedure for impeachments is governed by Law 18918 (1990), the
Constitutional Organic Law of the National Congress (Articles 37 to 52).
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VI. Exclusive powers of the Senate (Constitution Art. 49)
In addition to hearing impeachments by the Chamber of Deputies in the
political trials we have seen above, the Senate holds other important powers,
namely:
- To resolve whether or not it is proper to accept legal actions which
any person intends to bring against any Minister of State for any losses he
may have suffered unjustly through an act of the latter in the exercise of his
office; - To hear disputes on competence arising between the political or
administrative authorities and the courts of justice; - To declare restoration of citizenship where an applicant has been
sentenced to a major penalty; - To give or withhold consent to acts by the President of the Republic
where so required by the Constitution or the law; if the Senate does not
resolve within thirty days from a request for urgency from the President of
the republic, consent shall be deemed given. - To give its consent for the President of the Republic to leave the
country for more than thirty days, or within the last ninety days of his term. - To declare the unfitness of the President of the Republic or of the
President elect when some physical or mental impediment makes him unfit to
exercise his office; and similarly, when the President of the Republic resigns
his office, to declare whether the grounds therefor are sound and hence
whether to accept or refuse it. In either case, the Senate must first consult the
Constitutional Court. - To give its opinion to the President of the Republic whenever the
latter asks for it. https://www.asgp.co/sites/default/files/documents//JUHJFFGDLGEBYKYCGXVMKBXJYTMPNO.pdf
