Key dates in Chile’s 2020 Constitutional Process
I. START OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS
- Date to be defined (expected to be in December 2019): Approval and promulgation of the constitutional reform required to permit the calling of a plebiscite on a new constitution: This reform is currently before Congress.
- 3 days after this constitutional reform comes into force: The President of the Republic will call an initial plebiscite on a new constitution.
- 25 October 2020: Initial plebiscite. The result of the plebiscite will be determined by popular vote, with voluntary voting. It will include two questions that the voter must answer: (1) The voter must APPROVE or REJECT the drafting of a new constitution, and (2) must choose the mechanism through which the new constitution will be drafted: a Constitutional Convention (155 members elected by citizens) or a Mixed Constitutional Convention (172 members: 86 elected by citizens and 86 incumbent members of Congress, elected by a Plenary Session of Congress).
- No more than 30 days after the initial plebiscite: The Electoral Tribunal (TRICEL) will determine whether the proposal to draft a new constitution was approved or rejected, and the mechanism chosen to draft it. If the proposal is rejected, the process ends; if it is accepted, the process of establishing the chosen mechanism (Constitutional Convention or Mixed Constitutional Convention) begins.
- No more than 3 days after TRICEL’s decision: TRICEL will report the result of the plebiscite to the President of the Republic and Congress. If the proposal to draft a new constitution is approved, the rules indicated in Point II will be followed
- 24 Dicember 2020: Deadline for including prior changes in the election of delegates to the (Mixed) Constitutional Convention such as reserved seats, gender parity and special norms for independents.
II. FUNCTIONING OF THE CONVENTION
- No more than 5 days after TRICEL’s report of the plebiscite’s result to the President: The President will call an election to select delegates to the (Mixed) Constitutional Convention, who will be referred to as Convention Constituents
- 04 April 2021: Election of Convention Constituents, concurrently with the election of municipal mayors and councilors and regional governors.
- No more than 30 days after the election: TRICEL will announce the results of the election of Convention Constituents.
- No more than 3 days after TRICEL’s announcement: TRICEL will report the results to the President and Congress.
- 3 days after TRICEL’s report to the President: The President will call for the inaugural session of the Convention to be convened.
- No more than 15 days after the call to convene the Convention: Inaugural session of the (Mixed) Constitutional Convention. At its first session, the Convention will elect a President and a Vice-President.
- 9 months after the installation of the Convention (or 12 months, if it exercises its one-time right to a 3-month extension): The Convention must publish a text of the new constitution, which has been approved by two-thirds of the incumbent delegates. Having fulfilled its only objective, the Convention will be dissolved and the delegates will be forbidden from holding public office for a period of one year.
- No more than 3 days after publication of the proposed text of the new constitution: The President will call a Plebiscite to Ratify the New Constitution through a Supreme Decree published in the Diario Oficial (Official Gazette).
III. RATIFICATION OF THE PROPOSED TEXT OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION
- 60 days after the publication in the Diario Oficial of the Supreme Decree calling the plebiscite or, if that does not fall on a Sunday, the following Sunday: The plebiscite will take place, with voting compulsory for all voters domiciled in Chile (with a fine of 0.5-3.0 unidades tributarias mensuales (UTMs) for abstention).
- No more than 30 days after the Plebiscite to Ratify the New Constitution: Deadline for TRICEL’s review of the plebiscite’s result.
- No more than 3 days after completion of TRICEL’s review of the result: TRICEL will report the result to the President and Congress. If the new constitution is rejected, the process ends. If it is approved, the process moves on to the next steps.
- No more than 5 days after TRICEL reports the result to the President: The President will call a Plenary Session of Congress so that, in a public and solemn act, it promulgates the New Constitution and swears or promises to respect and adhere to it.
- No more than 10 days after the promulgation of the New Constitution by the Plenary Session of Congress: The text of the New Constitution will be published in the Diario Oficial and will come into force that same day. On that day, the current Constitution will also cease to be in force.