Chapter IV. Government
President of the Republic
Article 23
The government and the administration of the State correspond to the President of the Republic, who is the Chief of State and the Chief of Government.
The authority of the President extends to all that pertains to the conservation of public order within Chile and the external security of the republic, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.
On June 1st of every year the President of the Republic will address the entire Congress regarding the administrative and political state of the nation.
Article 24
To be elected President of the Republic a person must have Chilean nationality according to numbers 1 and 2 of article 10; have reached the age of forty and possess the other qualities necessary to be a citizen with the right to vote.
The President of the Republic will exercise his functions for a term of six years and may not be re-elected or run for this position again.
The President of the Republic may not leave the national territory for longer than thirty days and may not leave during the day indicated in the following article without approval of the senate.
In all cases, the President of the Republic will communicate to the Senate a decision to leave the territory and will provide the motives that justify the absence with the proper prior notice.
Article 25
The President of the Republic will be elected in a direct vote and by absolute majority of the valid votes cast. The election will be implemented in the form determined by an organic constitutional law on the third Sunday of November of the year prior to the cessation of the current officeholder’s term.
If more than two candidates run in an election of the President of the Republic and none of them obtain more than half of the valid votes cast, a second vote will be conducted and will be circumscribed to those candidates that obtained the two highest vote counts in the first vote; the second vote will result in the candidate that receives the most votes being elected. This new election will be verified in the form determined by the law the fourth Sunday after the first election.
With regards to that which was set forth in the prior clauses, blank votes and null votes will be considered as votes not cast.
In the case of death or renunciation of one or both candidates to which the second clause refers, the President of the Republic will convoke a new election within a period of ten days following the death or renunciation. The election will be celebrated ninety days following the announcement if this day corresponds to a Sunday. If not, it will take place the following Sunday.
If the mandate of the President of the Republic expires before the date that the new President elected according to the prior clause takes office, the norm contained in the first clause of article 27 will be applied.
Article 26
The counting process to determine the results of the presidential election must be completed within the fifteen days following the first vote or within the thirty days following a second vote.
The Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones will immediately communicate the proclamation of the President-elect to the President of the Republic.
The full Congress, in a public meeting on the day that the current President’s term ends will commemorate the pronouncement of the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones with regard to the newly elected President.
In this same act, the President-elect will take an oath of office before the President of the Senate swearing to faithfully discharge the duties of the office, protect the independence of the nation, guard the Constitution and the laws, and immediately assume the functions of the office of the President of the Republic.
Article 27
If the President-elect is unable to take office, the President of the Senate will assume responsibility with the title of Vice-President of the Republic; in the case that the President of the Senate is unable to do so, the President of the Cámara de Diputados will do so, and, in the case that the President of the Cámara de Diputados is unable to do so, the President of the Supreme Court will do so.
In all, if the impediment to the President-elect is absolute or will continue indefinitely, the Vice President, in the ten days following the accord of the Senate adopted in accordance with article 53 number 6, will convoke a new presidential election that will be conducted ninety days after the convocation, if this day corresponds to a Sunday. If not, the election will be held on the following Sunday. The President of the Republic elected through these means will assume office at the opportunity indicated by this law and will remain in office until the day that the office of the President that was unable to assume office, thereby creating the need for the special election, would have ended.
Article 28
In the case of a temporary impediment to the President of the Republic’s ability to discharge the duties of office, such as sickness, absence from the national territory, or another serious reason, the position will be temporarily assumed by the titular minister to whom the legal order of precedent indicates is first in the line of succession, who will also assume the title of Vice-President of the Republic. If the first titular minister is unable to do so, the next titular minister in the line of succession; if all of the titular ministers in the line of succession are unable to do so, the duty will fall to the President of the Senate, the President of the Cámara de Diputados, or the President of the Supreme Court in that order.
In the case of a vacancy in the office of the President of the Republic, the position will be filled in the same way as the previous clauses have described and a successor will be selected according to the following clauses.
If the vacancy occurs less than two years before the following election, the President will be selected by the full Congress through an absolute majority vote of all Senators and Diputados. The election by the Congress will be conducted within the ten days following the vacancy and the President-elect will assume office within thirty days after election.
If the vacancy occurs more than two years before the next presidential election, the Vice-President will call for a Presidential Election within ten days after the vacancy; the subsequent election will take place 120 days later, if that day is a Sunday. If the day is not a Sunday, the election will take place on the next Sunday. The President elected through this process will take office on the tenth day following the proclamation of the election results.
The President of the Republic elected according to the processes described in the prior clauses will remain in office until the day that the office of the President that was replaced would have ended and may not run in the next election.
Article 29
The President will cease exercising the role of President on the day the current term ends and the newly elected President takes office.
Whoever has discharged the duties of office for a full term will immediately be granted the official title of Ex-President of the Republic with full rights.
In virtue of this quality, the provisions of the second, third and fourth clauses of article 62 and article 63 will be applicable.
The title will not be extended to citizens that became President due to vacancy nor to those who were found guilty of criminal misconduct.
An Ex-President of the Republic that performs a function remunerated with public funds will cease to receive payments associated with the title of Ex-President as long as he or she is performing said function, maintaining in any case, the privileges associated with the title. Teaching professions and other positions in higher, secondary or special education are exempt from this requirement.
Article 30
The President designated by the full Congress or, the Vice-President of the Republic will have all the attributes conferred upon the President of the Republic by this Constitution.
Article 31
Special attributes of the President of the Republic are:
- Contribute the formation of the laws in accordance with the Constitution, to sanction them and to promulgate them;
- To request, indicating the motives, that a meeting be called within any of the houses of the National Congress. In any case, the session must be held as soon as possible;
- To draw on legislative powers and dictate decrees with the force of law regarding matters indicated by the Constitution;
- To convoke a plebiscite in cases foreseen by the Constitution and laws, in conformity with article 15 of this Constitution;
- To declare states of constitutional exception in cases and forms indicated by the Constitution;
- To exercise regulatory power on all matters that are not exclusive to the legal domain, without prejudice to the President’s ability to issue regulations, decrees, and instructions necessary to execute the laws;
- To appoint and remove Ministers of the State as well as provincial and regional sub-secretaries delegated by the President at will. The Ministers of State must attend to the commissions concerned with their respective characters in both houses of the National Congress during their first month of office;
- To designate the ambassadors, diplomatic ministers, and the representatives for Chile in international organizations, who must attend the commissions of international relations of both houses of the National Congress before traveling to their destination.
- To appoint the Controller General of the Republic with the approval of the Senate;
- To appoint and to remove functionaries that the law denominates as under the exclusive confidence of the President and to provide the remaining civil servants according to the law. The removal of other functionaries will occur according to the provisions that this clause determines;
- To grant retirements, and pensions according to the laws;
- To appoint the magistrates and judicial prosecutors of the Court of Appeals and the judges, as proposed by the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals, respectively; to appoint the members of the Constitutional Tribunal according to article 93; and to appoint the magistrates and judicial prosecutors of the Supreme Court and the Nacional Prosecutor, according to the proposal of said court and with the approval of the senate, all according to the process described in this Constitution;
- To grant private pardons in the cases and forms determined by the law. A pardon will be inappropriate as long as a final sentence has not been made in the respective process. The functionaries accused by the Cámara de Diputados and condemned by the senate may only be pardoned by the Congress;
- To call for the Constitutional Tribunal to mandate the cessation of the Diputado or Senator in accordance with clause five of article 61 of this Constitution.
- To conduct political relations with the foreign powers and international organization, and to carry out the negotiations; to conclude, sign, and ratify the treaties the President finds to be in the interest of the country, which must also be sent to the Congress for approval according to the prescriptions of article 54 number 1. The discussions and deliberations about these objects will be secret if the President of the Republic requests them to be secret;
- To designate and remove the Commanders in Chief of the Army, the Navy, the Air force, as well as the General Director of the Carabineiros according to article 106, and to direct the nominations, promotions and retirements of the officials of the Armed Forces and the Carabineiros in the form indicated by article 107;
- To direct, organize, and distribute the forces of air, sea, and land according to the needs of national security;
- To assume, in cases of war, the supreme leadership of the Armed Forces;
- To declare war with the prior authorization of the law, requiring the President to record having heard the National Security Council, and
- To care for the collection of public revenues and to order their conversion according to the law. The President of the Republic, with the signature of all the Ministers of State, may order payments not authorized by law in order to attend to unpostponable necessities related to public calamities, foreign aggression, internal unrest, serious damages or danger to national security or to supply resources destined to maintain services that cannot become paralyzed without serious harm to the nation. The total of the orders made for these purposes may not exceed 2% of the expenses authorized by the budgetary law. The Ministers of the State or functionaries that authorize or initiate expenses that contravene that which is set forth in this clause will be responsible, both jointly and personally, for the return of funds and guilty of the crime of mismanagement of the public funds.
Ministers of the State
Article 32
The ministers of the State are the direct and immediate collaborators of the President of the Republic in the governance and administration of the State.
The law will determine the number and organization of the ministers, as well as the order of precedence of the incumbent ministers.
The President of the Republic must entrust to a minister the coordination of the Secretaries of State, with the denomination of Head of Government.
The Cabinet will consist of the ministers in their portfolios. It will meet once a month and may be convened by the President when he deems appropriate.
The President of the Republic will determine the formation of committees of ministers and their membership at will. In all, there must be a functioning Political Committee presided over by the Head of Government that will hold sessions at least once a week.
Article 33
In order to be named as a minister a person must be Chilean, 21 years of age or older, and meet all the other general requirements for entry into the public administration.
In cases of absence, impediment or the resignation of a minister, or when a vacancy arises for another reason, the vacancy will be filled in the form indicated by the law.
Article 34
The regulations and decrees of the President of the Republic must be signed by the relevant minister and will not be obeyed without this essential requirement.
Decrees and instructions may be expedited with the signature of the relevant minister, by order of the President of the Republic, according to the norms established by the law.
Article 35
Ministers will be individually responsible for the acts they sign and jointly responsible for those that they cosign or agree upon with the other ministers.
Article 36
The ministers and the sub-secretaries may attend the sessions of the Cámara de Diputados or of the Senate, and take part in their debates, with preference in order to have voice, but without the right to vote. However, during a vote they may rectify the concepts used by any Representative or Senator while determining their vote.
Notwithstanding the former clause, the ministers must personally attend the special sessions that the Cámara de Diputados or the Senate convene to inform themselves about matters that, pertaining to the scope of powers of the corresponding Secretaries of State, they agree to deal with. In no case will this appearance compromise the political responsibility of the Ministers of the State.
Article 37
The role of Minister of the State is not compatible with any other role, employment, or commission paid through public or private funds. Teaching positions are exempt according to the law. By the single act of accepting the nomination, the minister will cease all incompatible roles, employment, functions, or commissions.
General Basis for the Administration of the State
Article 38
An organic constitutional law will determine the basic organization of the public administration, it will guarantee the civil service career and the principles of a technical and professional character in which it ought to be based, and it will ensure equality of opportunity to enter into the public administration as well as the capacity building and training of its members.
Notwithstanding the prior clause and the specificities of each government department, their bylaws and legal status, all persons remunerated by the Treasury will be subject to the same legal regime and to a common scale of remunerations.
Any person that has their rights violated by the administration of the State, by its organizations, or by the municipalities may bring a claim before the tribunals that determine the law, without prejudice of the responsibility that it may cause to the functionary that caused the act or to the authority that authorized the act.
The organs of the administration of the State, its organizations or the municipalities will be responsible for the damages caused by a lack of service.
States of Constitutional Exception
Article 39
The exercise of the rights and guarantees that the Constitution provides to all people may only be affected under the following conditions of constitutional exception: internal or external warfare, internal unrest, or public emergencies and calamities when they seriously affect the normal development of the institutions of the state.
The constitutional protection of these exceptions to the normal operation of rights established in the prior clause does not prevent the damages produced by their verification from being subject to the legal actions that may result.
Article 40
The state of alert, in case of external warfare, and the state of siege, in case of internal warfare or serious internal unrest, will be declared by the President of the Republic with the approval of the National Congress.
The declaration must determine the zones affected by the corresponding state of constitutional exception.
The National Congress, within a period of five days after the date on which the President of the Republic submits the declaration of a state of alert or a state of siege for consideration, must accept or reject the proposal, without being able to introduce modifications to the declaration. If the Congress does not release a decision within this time period, it will be understood as an approval of the proposition of the President.
However, the President of the Republic may immediately apply the state of alert or a state of siege while the Congress considers the declaration, but the President may only restrict the exercise of the right of assembly during this period. The means adopted by the President of the Republic while the National Congress is not meeting may be revised by the tribunals of justice, without the provisions of article 45 being applicable. The declaration of a state of siege may only be made for a period of fifteen days, without prejudice to the President of the Republic’s ability to request its prorogation. The state of alert will remain in effect for as long as a state of external war continues, unless the President of the Republic suspends it prior to the end of the external war.
Article 41
The state of catastrophe; in the case of a public calamity, the President of the Republic will determine the affected zones and announce a state of catastrophe.
The President of the Republic will be obligated to inform the National Congress of the methods adopted due to the state of catastrophe. The National Congress may leave the declaration without effect after 180 days if the reasons that motivated it were ceased in an absolute form. In all, the President of the Republic may only declare a state of catastrophe for a period longer than a year with the approval of the National Congress. This agreement will proceed in the form established in the third clause of article 40.
Once a state of catastrophe is declared, the areas indicated as being affected will be under the immediate subordination of the Chief of National Defense designated by the President of the Republic. The Chief of National Defense will assume the direction and supervision of his or her jurisdiction with the attributes and rights indicated by the law.
Article 42
The state of emergency: in case of a serious change in public order or serious damage to national security, the President of the Republic will declare a state of emergency, indicating the areas affected by said circumstances. The state of emergency may not extend for longer than fifteen days, without prejudice to the President of the Republic’s ability to prorogate it for en equal time period. However, further extensions will always require the President to request the approval of the National Congress. The referred to approval will proceed in the form established in the third clause of article 40.
Upon declaration of a state of emergency, the affected areas will remain under the immediate subordination of the Chief of National Defense designated by the President of the Republic. The Chief of National Defense will assume the direction and supervision of his or her jurisdiction with the attributes and rights indicated by the law.
The President of the Republic will be obligated to inform the National Congress of the methods adopted due to the state of emergency.
Article 43
Upon the declaration of a state of alert, the President of the Republic will remain empowered to suspend or restrain personal liberties, the right of assembly and the freedom to work. The President may also restrict the freedom of association, intercept, open or register documents and all classes of communication, order the seizure of goods, and establish limits on the exercise of property rights.
Upon the declaration of a state of siege, the President of the Republic may restrict the freedom of movement and arrest persons in their own homes or in places determined by the law, as long as they are not prisons or places intended for use as detention facilities or the imprisonment of common criminals. Additionally, the President may also suspend or restrict the freedom of assembly.
Upon the declaration of a state of catastrophe, the President of the Republic may restrict the freedoms of movement and assembly. The President may also order the seizure of goods, establish limits on the exercise of the rights to property, and adopt any extraordinary administrative means that are necessary to the speedy reestablishment of normality within the affected area. Upon the declaration of a state of emergency, the President of the Republic may restrict the freedoms of movement and assembly.
Article 44
An organic constitutional law will regulate the states of exception, as well as their declaration and the application of the legal and administrative methods that will be permitted during them. Said law will account for that which is strictly necessary for the speedy reestablishment of constitutional normality and may not affect the competences or the functioning of the constitutional organs nor of the rights and immunities of their respective office holders.
The methods adopted during states of exception may not, under any circumstances, be prolonged beyond the period of the state of exception.
Article 45
The tribunals of justice may not qualify the basis or the facts invoked by the authority to decree the states of exception, without prejudice to the provisions of article 39. Nonetheless, with respect to the particular actions that affect constitutional rights, the guarantee to appeal to the legal authorities will always exist through the corresponding resources.
The requisitions practiced will give place to compensation for damages according to the law. When limits imposed on property rights cause deprivation of some of their attributes or essential faculties, thereby causing damage, there will be the right to indemnization.
