Explainer: What's in Chile's proposed new constitution?

[Judi Lynn]

July 29, 2022
10:11 AM CDT
Last Updated 2 days ago

By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

1 minute read

SANTIAGO, July 29 (Reuters) - Chileans will vote in a little over a month on a new constitution that would bring the most sweeping changes to the country since the end of the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship. The proposed text focuses on social rights, the environment and gender parity, representing a sharp shift from the current 1980 constitution written during Pinochet's prime that focuses on private rights and free market principles.

. . .

These are some of the changes the proposed 388-article constitution, completed in early July, would make.

POLITICAL SYSTEM AND LAWS

• The president remains the head of the government, but would share the power to submit laws that involve public spending with legislators, something currently exclusive to the president.
  
• The president could be re-elected consecutively once. Chile's president's can currently only be re-elected non-consecutively.
  
• Congress, which is a bicameral body with equal powers, would become an "asymmetric" one. The current Chamber of Deputies would retain its legislative functions while the Senate would be scaled back to a Chamber of Regions with limited powers and a focus on laws with a regional scope.
  
• Direct democracy mechanisms like popular law initiatives and citizen consultations would become routine.
  
• The Chamber of Deputies will need a simple majority to modify or repeal certain laws, down from a maximum of two-thirds. Changes to autonomous entities like the central bank will still require a supermajority.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/whats-chiles-proposed-new-constitution-2022-07-29/