Chilean Government

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On the surface, many nations across the globe are thought to be democratic nations that hold true to the principles of Constitutional Liberalism. Many nations claim equality, freedom, and power invested in the people, but when one investigates further, not many can uphold the true definition of democracy. In Chile, a history of class privilege, unity of church and state, and infringement on personal liberties, has ingrained in society many aspects of an illiberal democracy. While Chilean elections today are deemed to be free and fair, unbalanced government institutions that are unrepresentative of the people, border on absolutist principles. Chileans face marginalization of indigenous people, discrimination against those who do not conform…show more content…
The Senate is the upper house of the National Congress and contains 38 senators as well as 9 designated senators, who are appointed by different branches; senators serve 8-year terms. The Senate works in 18 commissions, made up of five people. These commissions specialize in certain aspects and concerns of the country. The lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, is comprised of 120 deputies who serve four-year terms. The Chamber works in thirteen commissions made up of thirteen deputies. When the two houses have discrepancies over pieces of legislature, mixed member commissions work together to resolve them. Congress has the power to approve laws. Laws are approved by a majority of votes in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. Depending on the severity of the nature of the law, more than a majority’s vote would be needed. For example, a law needs an absolute majority of all legislators to redefine a boundary within the country. An amendment to the constitution can be proposed by either ten deputies or five senators, but needs four-sevenths vote of legislatures to approve it. Only congress has the power to reject international treaties before the chief executive signs them. Congress works together to impeach a government official. The lower house can bring up charges on an accused official for an unlawful offence and the upper house…show more content…
The electoral system works by parties presenting lists of usually two candidates per district during Congressional elections. The districts vote and whichever candidate of all the party’s lists gets the most votes, wins the first seat. For a party to win both seats, their list must win twice as many votes as the second party’s list. This forces parties to organize into large, disorganized coalitions. It also creates more competition between the party members who want the second seat than it does between rival parties. This system does not represent the interests of the public because it keeps parties out of power that have significant support, but not as much support as the larger coalitions (Huneeus). This system has kept the The Communist Party of Chile out of politics although they had strong support in the 1970s. The Communist Party of Chile is one of the oldest and largest parties in Latin America. Today, The Socialist Party has replaced this leftist party’s popularity. The current president, Michelle Bachelet, belongs to The Socialist Party. Historically, the Christian Democratic Party has had much popularity dating all the way back to the 1930s (Hudson). Their conservative and religious values are ingrained in Chilean legislature
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