Chile’s historic constituent process has come to a critical point with completion of the draft constitution that will go before voters on December 17, 2023. Tools on Constitute now include an English translation of the draft by CCP senior research analysts Matthew Martin and Guillermo Perez, allowing English-speaking users to explore Chile’s new draft constitution in comparative perspective.
How has the draft changed?
Constitute includes texts of the current draft constitution and prior draft constitutions from all three recent constituent processes in Chile. Readers can thus analyze and compare topics included in the 2023 final draft approved by the Constitutional Council, the 2022 draft produced by the elected Chilean Constitutional Convention, and the 2018 draft produced by the administration of then-President Michelle Bachelet.
To compare the full texts of two drafts, select any of the Chilean draft constitutions using the buttons along the right side of the page and click “COMPARE” in the menu bar. This compares the full texts, as shown below.
To compare specific topics in the drafts, click on the SEARCH | TOPICS | FILTERS link in the menu bar, select the topic you’d like to see, and click the “APPLY” button to return to the Compare page. The comparison will then show provisions in each constitution related to that topic. The example below shows provisions on protection of environment, revealing both substantive differences and a much more extensive focus on the environment in the prior 2022 draft.
How does the draft compare to the current or historical constitutions in Chile?
Constitute also includes the texts of the current Chilean Constitution adopted in 1980 and the prior 1925 Chilean Constitution. To compare them to the current draft constitution, return to compare view and select the 1980 or 1925 constitution from the “Swap Constitution” drop-down menu. The comparison will then appear, as shown below again for protection of environment.
How does the draft compare to the ideas in constitutions globally?
Constitute also includes a sample of the current constitutions of sovereign countries across all regions of the globe. This allows users to compare the content in any of these constitutions to Chile’s current draft constitution. To do so, go to the full list of constitutions and select any constitutions using the buttons along the right side of the page, then click “COMPARE” in the menu bar. Click on the SEARCH | TOPICS | FILTERS link in the menu bar to select the topic you’d like to see and click on the “APPLY” button to return to the Compare page to view the relevant provisions.
Below are comparisons of the draft Chilean constitution to varied constitutions globally on varied topics.
On constitutional amendment procedure:
On electoral districts:
On subsidiary unit governments:
On constitutional interpretation:
Readers can analyze Chile’s current constitution with additional tools available on Constitute’s Chile page.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 2315189. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.