Democracy In Chile

Laura Monroy
February 15, 2012
Democracy

I. Definition
II. Country that is democratic in its political system
A. How the government works
B. Examples of political democracy in this country in the past year
1. Candidates and elections 2012-2013
2. Electoral system reform
3. Student´s manifestations
III. Conclusion

The people in power: this is what the worddemocracy stands for. On the other hand, Plato stated that a democracy is the government of the multitude. Also, according to the Oxford dictionary online, a democracy is the system of government in which the power lies on the members of the community.

In a democracy, more specifically in an indirect or representative democracy, the individuals who belong to a certain community or statechoose, from a group of eligible people, those in charge of occupying the government´s jobs.

Along the history of the Republic of Chile, democracy has faced struggles that had weakened it. On September 11, 1973 the president of Chile, Salvador Allende, who had been elected on 1970, was overthrown from his charge after the coup d’état led by the army commander Augusto Pinochet. A military regime wasestablished and Chile lost its democracy. It was until the late 80´s that the country started its transition back to the democratic system with the plebiscite of October 5th, 1988 where the end of Pinochet´s mandate was decided. Until today, there have been 5 presidents in Chile, all democratically elected, since the end of the military government: Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle,Ricardo Lagos, Michelle Bachellet, and the current president Sebastián Piñera.

Today, Chile is a unitary, democratic, presidential State in which the sovereignty lies on the people. The political system is a republican democracy, this basically means that the elected president mandates over both the State and the government. A president is elected every 4 years by every citizen who is 18 years oldor older, and has no right to immediate reelection. The power is divided into the three traditional branches, but has other powers as the Constitutional Tribunal, the Central Bank, and the Council of National Security, as well. The head of the executive power, in charge of the law enforcement or application, is the president. He or she chooses ministers who will help in the State administration.The regional government is formed by a representative of the president, chosen by the president, as well as the provincial governor, and a regional council that is indirectly elected. The local government, on its part, consists of a town council and a mayor both elected by popular vote.

On the other hand, the legislative branch, in charge of making the laws, is in the hands of the NationalCongress, divided into the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and the president. The National Congress is also elected by popular vote: every 4 years the 120 members of the Chambers of Deputies are elected, and every 8, the 38 Senators of the Senate. In both cases the members can be reelected.

Even though these elections are made by popular vote, Chile has implemented a binominal system forthem ever since 1989. This system leads to the strengthening of only two parties or coalitions leaving many minor parties without the possibility of competing. On the other hand, the system gives political stability and governability to the country since there is less trouble among the ones governing. Anyway, this system has caused a lot of controversy among Chileans; an example of this would be theex-president Ricardo Lagos and the senator Pedro Muñoz who are against the system. Today, the political parties of Chile are divided into 4 coalitions: the Coalición por el Cambio, the Concentración de Partidos por la Democracia, the Juntos Podemos Más, and the Partido regionalista de los Independientes, being the two first the principal ones.

At last, the legislative power is formed by the...