“There is a fundamental problem that is the relationship between the executive branch and Congress and that has not been adequately resolved because The Currency’s threat to resort to the TC in a number of indications, which the government says would be inadmissible on 17 projects, reveals that the government has had some incompetence to govern with a Congress that is mostly opposed.” So responded the ppd president, Heraldo Muñoz, to The Currency’s claims that the opposition is abusing its majorities in Congress.
“Unlike before when the Concertation had to deal with senators appointed and yet was able to implement a change agenda that was critical to the country. But what is underlying is the excess of the Executive Branch and when it fails to move forward with its projects, when the Government is not pleased with the citizen control of Congress, it seeks to circumvent the popular sovereignty expressed at the ballot box, in the election of parliamentarians by the the way to go to the TC where it has a sort of reserve for a virtual third legislative chamber and that does very bad to democracy,” he said on Radio Universo.
“So the fundamental problem is: since the government raised the idea of state modernization, which I thought was very good at, we have to address some constitutional issues, for example, there is an article that has to do just with this issue, which is article 65 of l (a) Political Constitution where there should be the possibility that Congress may make amendments to the exclusive initiative bills of the President of the Republic to be both co-legislators, excluding the matters that have to do with budget that are the President’s exclusive initiative,” he added.
Muñoz reiterated that “there is agreement that the TC must be reformed and the matter that comes now is the direction of the changes it requires.”
A new system
The Chairman of the PPD stated that “there is an ongoing discussion (…) why don’t we have a semi-presidential system like in France, with a President and a Prime Minister?” A democracy that can function without the rigidities of the presidential system.”
On the option that the President could resort to the presidential veto if the “40 Hours” project continues to advance, Muñoz replied that “it exists and can be used. The political cost in the face of a project such as the 40-hour project that has such overwhelming support in public opinion, obviously that the President is going to think twice about applying the veto but he could perfectly do it.”
