The Constitution Commission discussed with prominent constitutional lawyers the scope of what the Senate approved with regard to the project – originating in various motions – that limits the re-election of public authorities, before preparing a report to the Chamber for a third-step vote.
The bill was the focus of controversy last week, as while the limit to re-election was passed in the Senate, the initiative that sought to have retroactive effect was rejected.
However, via telematics, lawyers Jorge Correa Sutil, Patricio Zapata, Gabriel Osorio, Francisco Zúñiga and Fernando Atria, for the most part, considered that the rule approved by the Senate operates “in actum”, that is, it applies to all authorities that are currently in practice.
Lawyer Gabriel Osorio referred to this point and recalled what was previously approved by the House.
“The question that has to be asked is how to avoid this effect in actum, since it will be the Congress – in the third paperwork or through a joint committee – that determines whether the rule will be applicable immediately to all the authorities, or the legal technique that the Chamber of Deputies had proposed will be used to authorize certain authorities to go back to an election. However, in the permanent text they are already disabled for that,” he explained.
Thus, he argued that it is in the decision of the Deputies “if it finally approves this text rather harsher than the House proposed, that is, the Senate makes these requirements immediately applicable to all popular election authorities and therefore could not be candidates.”
In the Committee he also presented the Secretary-General of the Chamber of Deputies, Miguel Landeros, who referred to the processing in the Senate and agreed with what was pointed out by the constitutional law professors.
“Those parliamentarians who have effective successive periods will become impossible, in principle. This may be judicialized electorally (…). But, in my opinion, there is no doubt that it will indeed operate in actum. Then comes the political decision.”
Reactions
Mp Marcos Ilabaca (PS) valued the exhibition of the jurists and favored approving the rule as it comes from the Senate, reported from the Corporation.
“The view of all the constitutionalists and the Secretary-General of the House is clear that the rules that come from the Senate are clear immediately govern all the parliamentarians, mayors, regional councillors and the authorities detailed by the standard. Therefore, this discussion that took hold in the Senate, that some rejected retroactivity, is now useless and sterile,” he said.
He added that “the rule is clear and, today, the house’s majority position is to apply re-election to parliamentarians and other authorities in the country as established, which are two re-elections for MPs and one for senators.”
In the meantime, lawmaker Jorge Alessandri (UDI) called for no mistakes and to put all warnings in the report. “Professor Atria and Professor Zapata said it, every time there is a constitutional reform, then the adequas have to come. Because constitutional reform forces you to make changes to many legislations,” he raised.
He considered that “a second mistake in this would be a national disgrace”, so he asked to warn of any remaining gaps, filling them and making the respective adjustments.
On the day of this Tuesday, 2 June, the Constitution Commission will define the contents of the legal report to be submitted to the Chamber of the House, next Wednesday 3, the day when this draft limiting the re-election of authorities will be put to a third-step vote.
