Chile 1980 Constitution (reviewed 2021) - Page 15 of 16

Table of Contents

CHAPTER XV. AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION AND THE PROCEDURE TO PREPARE A NEW CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC

AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE 127

The amendment bills to the Constitution may be initiated by a message of the President of the Republic or by motion of any member of the National Congress, with the limitations described in the first paragraph of Article 65.

The proposed amendment will need to be approved in each House by the vote of three-fifths of the representatives and senators in office. If the amendment concerns chapters I, III, VIII, XI, XII or XV, it will need, in each House, the approval of two-thirds of the representatives and senators in exercise.

In matters not covered in this Chapter, the norms on formation of the law will be applicable to the process of constitutional amendment bills, having to always respect the quorums indicated in the preceding paragraph.

ARTICLE 128

The bill approved by both Houses will pass to the President of the Republic.

If the President of the Republic rejects -in its entirety- an amendment bill approved by both Houses and they insist entirely by two-thirds of the members in exercise of each House, the President of the Republic shall promulgate that bill, unless he consults the citizens through a plebiscite.

If the President partially observes an amendment bill approved by both Houses, the observations shall be understood approved with the confirming vote of three-fifths or two-thirds of the members in exercise of each House, in accordance with the previous article, and it shall be returned to the President for its promulgation.

In the case that the Houses do not approve all or some of the observations of the President, there shall be no constitutional amendment of the points in dispute, unless both Houses insist by two-thirds of their members in exercise on the part of the bill approved by them. In this last case, the part of the bill that has been object of insistence shall be returned to the President for its promulgation, unless he consults the citizens so that they pronounce themselves through a plebiscite, regarding the issues in dispute.

The constitutional organic law regarding the Congress shall regulate the other matters concerning the vetoes of the amendment bills and their process in Congress.

ARTICLE 129

The call for a plebiscite shall be made within thirty days following the day on which both Houses insist on the bill approved by them, and it will be ordered through supreme decree which will set the date for the plebiscitary vote, which will be celebrated one-hundred and twenty days after the publication of the said decree if that day corresponded to a Sunday. If that is not the case, it shall take place the immediately following Sunday. If after this period the President has not convoked a plebiscite, the bill approved by the Congress shall be promulgated.

The decree of convocation shall contain, as appropriate, the bill approved by both Houses and entirely vetoed by the President of the Republic, or the issues of the bill in which the Congress has insisted. In this last case, each of the issues of disagreement shall be separately voted in the plebiscite.

The Qualifying Court shall inform the result of the plebiscite to the President of the Republic, and shall specify the text of the bill approved by the citizenry, which shall be promulgate as a constitutional amendment within five days of such communication.

Once the bill has been promulgated, and from the date it enters into force, its provisions will form part of this Constitution and shall be deemed incorporated into it.

Procedure to prepare a New Political Constitution of the Republic

ARTICLE 130. National Plebiscite

Three days after the entry into force of this article, the President of the Republic shall convene by means of an exempt supreme decree a national plebiscite for October 25, 2020.

In the aforementioned plebiscite, citizens will have two electoral certificates. The first will contain the following question: “Do you want a New Constitution?” Under such question there will be two horizontal stripes, one next to the other. The first line will have at the bottom the expression “Approve”, and the second the expression “Reject”, so that the voter can mark his preference for one of the alternatives.

The second certificate will contain the question: “What type of body should draft the New Constitution?” Under such question there will be two horizontal stripes, one next to the other. The first stripe will have at the bottom the expression “Mixed Constitutional Convention” and the second stripe, the expression “Constitutional Convention”. Under the expression “Mixed Constitutional Convention” the following sentence shall be included: “Composed in equal parts by popularly elected members and parliamentarians in office.” Under the expression “Constitutional Convention” the following sentence shall be included: “Made up exclusively of popularly elected members”, so that the voter can mark his preference for one of the alternatives.

For the purpose of this plebiscite, the relevant provisions contained in the following legal bodies will be applied, in their current text as of January 1st, 2020:

Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which sets forth the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18,700, constitutional organic law, Popular Voting and Scrutiny Act, in the following passages: Paragraph V, Paragraph VI, with the exception of the sixth paragraph of article 32 and second to fourth paragraphs of article 33, Paragraph VII, VIII, IX, X and XI of Title I; Title II to X inclusive; Title XII and XIII;
Decree with Force of Law No. 5, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which sets forth the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18,556, constitutional organic law, Electoral System Record and Electoral Service Act;
Decree with Force of Law No. 4, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which sets forth the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18.603, constitutional organic law, Political Parties Act, in the following passages: Title I, V, VI, IX and X.

Free reception television channels must allocate thirty minutes a day of their broadcasts free of charge to electoral propaganda on this plebiscite, and must give expression to the two options contemplated in each certificate card, in accordance with an agreement to be adopted by the National Television Council and which shall be published in the Official Gazette, within a period of thirty days since the publication of the call for the national plebiscite, granting a strict equality in the promotion of the plebiscite options. This agreement may be challenged before the Elections Qualifying Court within a period of three days from its publication. The Elections Qualifying Court will resolve the claim summarily within a period of five days from the date of its respective filing.

The Elections Qualifying Court will review the general scrutiny and will proclaim approved the questions that have obtained more than half of the validly issued votes. For these purposes, null and blank votes will be considered as not cast. The qualification process of the national plebiscite must be completed within thirty days after its date. The ruling of proclamation of the plebiscite will be communicated within three days of its issuance to the President of the Republic and to the National Congress.

If the People approved the elaboration of a New Constitution, the President of the Republic must call, by means of an exempt Supreme Decree, within the five days following the communication referred to in the previous paragraph, for the election of the members of the Mixed Constitutional Convention or Constitutional Convention, as appropriate. This election will take place on May 16th and 16th, 2021.

ARTICLE 131. The Convention

For all purposes of this section, it will be understood that the word “Convention” -without further reference- refers to the Mixed Constitutional Convention and the Constitutional Convention, without any distinction.

The members of the Convention shall be called Constitutional Conventionals.

In addition to what is established in articles 139, 140 and 141 of the Constitution, the pertinent provisions for the election of deputies, contained in the following bodies, will be applied to the election of Constitutional Conventionals referred to in the final paragraph of article 130. legal, in its current text as of June 25, 2020:

Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, which establishes the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18,700, constitutional organic law, Popular Voting and Scrutiny Act, with the exception of article 32, paragraph five.
Decree with Force of Law No. 5, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which establishes the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18,556, constitutional organic law, Electoral Record System and Electoral Service Act.
Decree with Force of Law No. 4, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which establishes the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18.603, constitutional organic law, Political Parties Act.
Decree with Force of Law No. 3, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which establishes the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 19,884, Transparency, Limits and Control of Electoral Expenditure Act.

The qualification process for the election of Constitutional Conventionals must be completed within thirty days after its date. The sentence of proclamation will be communicated within three days of its issuance to the President of the Republic and the National Congress.

ARTICLE 132. Requirements and incompatibilities of the candidates

Citizens who meet the conditions provided in Article 13 of the Constitution may be candidates for the Convention.

No other requirement, inability or prohibition will be applicable to the candidates for this election, except those established in this section and with the exception of the rules on affiliation and independence of the candidacies set forth in article 5, paragraphs four and six of the Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which establishes the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18,700, constitutional organic law, Popular Voting and Scrutiny Act.

The Ministers of State, the mayors, the governors, the mayors, the regional councilors, the councilors, the undersecretaries, the regional ministerial secretaries, the heads of service, the members of the Council of the Central Bank, the members of the Council of the Electoral Service, the members and officials of the different ranks of the Judicial Power, of the Attorney General, of the General Comptroller of the Republic, as well as those of the Constitutional Court, of the Court of Defense of Free Competition, of the Court of Public Procurement, of the Court Elections and regional electoral courts; the councilors of the Council for Transparency, and the active members of the Armed Forces and of Public Order and Security, who declare their candidacies for members of the Convention, shall cease in their positions by an act of the Constitution, from the moment in which their candidacies are registered in the Special Register referred to in the first paragraph of article 21 of Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which sets the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of the Law No. 18,700. The provisions set forth above will be applicable to senators and deputies only with respect to the Constitutional Convention.

People who hold a managerial position of a union or neighborhood nature must suspend said functions from the moment their candidacies are registered in the Special Register mentioned in the previous paragraph.

ARTICLE 133. Operation of the Convention

Within three days of receipt of the communication referred to in the final paragraph of Article 131, the President of the Republic shall convene, by means of an exempt Supreme Decree, the first session of the installation of the Convention, also indicating the place of the call. If not stated, it will be installed at the headquarters of the National Congress. The aforementioned installation must be carried out within fifteen days after the date of publication of the decree.

At its first session, the Convention must elect a President and a Vice President by an absolute majority of its members in office.

The Convention shall approve the rules and its voting regulations by a quorum of two-thirds of its members in office.

The Convention may not alter the quorum or procedures for its operation and the adoption of agreements.

The Convention shall constitute a technical bureau, which shall be made up of persons of proven academic or professional suitability.

It will correspond to the President of the Republic, or to the bodies that he determines, to provide the technical, administrative and financial support that is necessary for the installation and operation of the Convention.

ARTICLE 134. The statute of the Constitutional Conventionals

The provisions of articles 51 shall apply to the members of the Convention, except for the first and second paragraphs; 58, 59, 60 and 61.

As of the proclamation of the Elections Qualifying Court, public officers, with the exception of those mentioned in the third subparagraph of article 132, as well as workers in state-owned companies, may use a permit without compensation while serving to the Convention, in which case the provisions of the first paragraph of article 58 of the Constitution will not apply to them.

The Constitutional Conventionals will be subject to the norms of Law No. 20,880, on probity in the public function and prevention of conflicts of interest, applicable to deputies, and to Law No. 20,730, which regulates lobbying and actions that represent private interests before the authorities and officials.

The positions of parliamentarian and members of the Mixed Constitutional Convention will be compatible. The deputies and senators who attend this convention will be exempt from their obligation to attend both sessions of the House and the commission of the Congress during the period in which it remains in operation. The National Congress may incorporate organizational measures to adequate the legislative work while the Mixed Constitutional Convention is in operation.

The members of the Convention, except for the parliamentarians that integrate it, will receive a monthly remuneration of 50 monthly tax units, in addition to the allocations established in the Regulations of the Convention. Said assignments will be administered by an external committee that determines the same Regulations.

ARTICLE 135. Special provisions

The Convention may not intervene or exercise any other function or attribution of other bodies or authorities established in this Constitution or in the laws.

As long as the New Constitution does not enter into force in the manner established in this section, this Constitution will remain fully in force, without the Convention being able to deny it authority or modify it.

Pursuant to Article 5, first paragraph, of the Constitution, while the Convention is in operation, sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation and is exercised by the people through plebiscites and periodic elections that the Constitution and laws determine, and also, by the authorities that this Constitution establishes. The Convention, any of its members or a fraction of them, will be prohibited from claiming the exercise of sovereignty, assuming other powers than those expressly recognized by this Constitution.

The text of the New Constitution that is submitted to a plebiscite must respect the character of the Republic of the State of Chile, its democratic regime, the final and executed judicial rulings and the international treaties ratified by Chile that are in force.

ARTICLE 136. Claims

Any infraction of the procedural rules applicable to the Convention, contained in this section and those of procedure that emanate from the general agreements of the Convention itself, may be claimed. No claim regarding the content of the texts in preparation shall be subject of claim.

Five justices of the Supreme Court, elected by lottery by the same Court for each question raised, will hear about this claim.

The claim must be signed by at least a quarter of the members in exercise of the Convention and will be filed before the Supreme Court, within a period of five days since the alleged defect was known.

The claim must show the vice that is claimed, which must be essential, and the damage it causes.

The procedure for the hearing and resolution of claims will be established in an Agreed Order to be adopted by the Supreme Court, which may not be subject to the control established in article 93 number 2 of the Constitution.

The ruling that accepts the claim can only annul the act. In any case, it must be resolved within ten days from when the matter became known. Against the decisions referred in this article, no remedy or recourse will be admitted.

No authority, nor court, may hear remedies, claims or resources related to the tasks that the Constitution assigns to the Convention, outside the provisions of this article.

The claim referred to in this article may not be filed with respect to the final paragraph of article 135 of the Constitution.

ARTICLE 137. Extension of the term of operation of the Convention

The Convention must draft and approve a proposed text of the New Constitution within a maximum period of nine months, counting from its installation, which may be extended once, for three months.

The aforementioned extension may be requested by the person who holds the Presidency of the Convention or by a third of its members, with an anticipation not exceeding fifteen days nor later than five days prior to the expiration of the nine-month period. Once the request has been submitted, a special session will be called immediately, in which the Presidency must publicly report on the progress in preparing the proposed text of the New Constitution, which means that the term will be extended without further processing. All these circumstances must be recorded in the respective minutes. The extension period will begin to run the day following that in which the original term expires.

Once the proposed text of the New Constitution has been drafted and approved by the Convention, or the term or its extension has expired, the Convention will be dissolved by act of law.

ARTICLE 138. Transitory Previsions

The Convention may establish special provisions for the entry into force of any of the norms or chapters of the New Constitution.

The New Constitution will not be able to put an early term to the term of the elected authorities in popular vote, unless those institutions that are part of it are suppressed or subject to a substantial modification.

The New Constitution must establish the way in which the other authorities that this Constitution establishes will cease or continue in their functions.

ARTICLE 139. Integration of the Mixed Constitutional Convention

The Mixed Constitutional Convention will be made up of 172 members, of whom 86 will correspond to citizens elected especially for this purpose and 86 members of parliament who will be elected by the Plenary Congress, made up of all the senators and deputies in office, who may present lists or pacts elections, and will be chosen according to the system established in article 121 of Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which fixes the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18,700, organic constitutional law, Popular Voting and Scrutiny’s Act, regarding the election of deputies.

ARTICLE 140. Electoral system of the Mixed Constitutional Convention

In the case of the non-parliamentary Constitutional Conventionals, these will be chosen according to the rules enshrined in article 121 of Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which sets the consolidated text, coordinated and systematized of Law No. 18,700, constitutional organic law, Popular Voting and Scrutiny’s Act, in its current text as of June 25, 2020, and articles 187 and 188 of the same legal body will apply, with the following modifications:

1st District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals;

2nd District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals;

3rd District that will elect 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

4th District that will elect 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

5th District that will choose 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

6th District that will choose 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

7th District that will elect 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

8th District that will choose 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

9th District that will elect 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

10th District that will elect 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

11th District that will elect 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

12th District that will choose 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

13th District that will elect 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

14th District that will choose 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

15th District that will choose 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

16th District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals;

17th District that will elect 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

18th District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals;

19th District that will elect 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

20th District that will choose 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

21st District that will elect 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

22nd District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals;

23rd District that will choose 4 Constitutional Conventionals;

24th District that will choose 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

25th District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals;

26th District that will elect 3 Constitutional Conventionals;

27th District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals; and

28th District that will choose 2 Constitutional Conventionals.

ARTICLE 141. Members of the Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention will be made up of 155 citizens elected especially for these purposes. For this, the electoral districts established in articles 187 and 188, and the electoral system described in article 121, all of Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which sets the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of law N°. 18,700, constitutional organic law, Popular Voting and Scrutiny’s Act, regarding the election of deputies, to its text in force on June 25, 2020.

The members of the Constitutional Convention may not be candidates for elected positions while exercising their duties and up to one year after they cease office in the Convention.

ARTICLE 142. Constitutional Plebiscite

Once the proposal for a constitutional text approved by the Convention has been communicated to the President of the Republic, the latter shall convene, within three days of following the said communication, by means of an exempt supreme decree, a national constitutional plebiscite so that the citizens approve or reject the proposal.

Suffrage in this plebiscite will be mandatory for those who have an electoral domicile in Chile.

The citizen who does not vote will be punished with a fine for municipal benefit of 0.5 to 3 monthly tax units.

The citizen who has failed to fulfill his obligation due to illness, absence from the country, being on the day of the plebiscite in a place located more than two hundred kilometers from that in which his electoral domicile is registered, or other serious impediment will not incur this penalty, duly verified before the competent judge, who will evaluate the evidence according to the rules of sound criticism.

The persons who, during the national constitutional plebiscite, perform functions entrusted by Decree with Force of Law No. 2, of the year 2017, of the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which establishes the consolidated, coordinated and systematized text of Law No. 18,700, Organic Constitution Law, Popular Voting and Scrutiny’s Act, shall be exempt from the sanction established in this article by sending to the competent judge a certificate that accredits this circumstance.

The knowledge of the indicated infraction will correspond to the local police judge of the County where such infractions were committed, in accordance with the procedure established in Law No. 18,287.

In the aforementioned plebiscite, citizens will have an electoral card that will contain the following question, as appropriate to the Convention that has proposed the text: “Do you approve the text of the New Constitution proposed by the Mixed Constitutional Convention?” or “Do you approve of the text of the New Constitution proposed by the Constitutional Convention?” Under the question raised there will be two horizontal stripes, one next to the other. The first of them will have at the bottom the expression “Approve” and the second, the word “Reject”, so that the voter can mark his preference over one of the alternatives.

This plebiscite must be held sixty days after the publication in the Official Gazette of the supreme decree referred to in the first paragraph, if such day were Sunday, or the immediately following Sunday. However, if in accordance with the above the date of the plebiscite is within the period of sixty days before or after the election of those referred to in articles 26, 47 and 49 of the Constitution, the day of the plebiscite will be delayed until the immediately following Sunday. If, as a result of the application of the preceding rule, the plebiscite falls in January or February, the plebiscite will be held on to the first Sunday of March.

The qualification process of the national plebiscite must be completed within thirty days after its date. The decision of proclamation of the plebiscite will be communicated within three days of its issuance to the President of the Republic and to the National Congress.

If the proposition raised to the citizenship in the national constitutional plebiscite is approved, the President of the Republic must -within five days after the communication of the decision referred to in the previous paragraph- call the Plenary Congress so that, in an act public and solemn, promulgate and swear or promise to respect and abide by the New Political Constitution of the Republic. Said text will be published in the Official Gazette within ten days of its promulgation and will enter into force on that date. As of this date, the present Political Constitution of the Republic, whose consolidated, coordinated and systematized text is established in Supreme Decree No. 100 of September 17, 2005, will be repealed.

The Constitution must be printed and distributed free of charge to all educational establishments, public or private, municipal libraries, universities and state bodies. The judges and magistrates of the higher courts of justice must receive a copy of the Constitution.

If the question raised to the citizenship in the ratifying plebiscite is rejected, the present Constitution will continue in force.