Procedure against the clock: Chile Vamos imposes its terms and the Senate approves financing of the plebiscite just five days before the start of the campaign

The right imposed its thesis of establishing a maximum electoral spending per option (Approve / Rejection), instead of setting a limit per party, and also set a maximum of 500 promotion units as a ceiling for individual contributions to a party. (about 14 million pesos). These are two of the key points of the political agreement of the reform that regulates the financing and propaganda for the plebiscite just five days before the official start of the campaign and that was dispatched by the Senate Chamber this Friday afternoon. It is a process against the clock, since the project must now be seen by the Chamber of Deputies.

The initiative was approved this Friday in the Upper House after yesterday the RN bench asked to postpone its discussion in search of an agreement. The right appealed to “seek equal conditions”, considering that there are more parties for the Approval than for the Rejection, which implied in the facts that the communities for the first option will have a higher spending limit.

Thus, within the Constitution Commission, negotiations were held between the opposition and the ruling party in search of a political agreement that Senator RN Rodrigo Galilea classified as “reasonable.” The opposition accepted the terms of the ruling party, even though the PS president, Álvaro Elizalde, indicated that “he would have expected lower limits (on spending).”

Voting

First, by unanimous vote of 40 votes in favor, the Senate approved the reform in general and in particular, including the sections that contemplated the prohibition of campaign contributions from foreign natural or legal persons, which prohibits campaign contributions from any legal entity incorporated in Chile, with the exception of political parties, and the one that establishes that all contributions will be public.

Also as part of the agreement, the numeral indicating that the contributions “will be released from the hint process and exempt from paying the inheritance and gift tax established by law No. 16,271” was eliminated.

Regarding the corrected numerals, these were dispatched by the Senate with 39 votes in favor and 2 abstentions (by PRO senators Alejandro Navarro and DC Yasna Provoste).

Senators voted first on the total limit on individual contributions. The agreement settled this point in a maximum of 500 promotion units (about 14 million pesos) to parties; 200 UF to civil society organizations: and 60 UF for independent parliamentarians.

Then, in terms of Electoral Expenditure, the approved indication reads that “political parties, independent parliamentarians and civil society organizations may form commands for each of the options submitted to a plebiscite, which must be registered with the Electoral Service within the three days following the date of publication of this constitutional reform ”.

The indication specifies that “the limit of electoral spending for the set of commands or political parties will be calculated for each of the options submitted to a plebiscite and will be the result of multiplying 0.005 promotion units by the number of eligible voters to date calling for a plebiscite, “that is, around two billion pesos.

“The individual limit for each community will be determined by applying the voting proportion obtained in the last election of deputies including independent associates. The political parties that have not participated in it, will have the same limit that corresponds to the party that has obtained the least amount of votes ”, he adds.

In the case of civil society organizations, the indication specifies that “the limit of electoral spending, for each plebiscited option, will be the one that results from multiplying 0.0003 promotion units (about 127 million pesos), by the number of eligible voters on the date of calling a plebiscite “.

In the case of independent parliamentarians, the electoral spending limit for each plebiscited option will be the equivalent to that set for the political party with the lowest spending limit authorized by the Electoral Service, he details.

After the vote, Senator PPD Felipe Harboe pointed out that now “the Government’s commitment is to grant sufficient resources to Servel so that it can supervise. It is key that the money contributed is traceable. We do not want foreign intervention, organized crime, drug trafficking, or people who secretly make this financing ”.

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