The Expert Commission () was a 24-member body that Chile's National Congress appointed in 2023 to prepare a preliminary draft of a new constitution. It was one of three bodies created for the country's second attempt in two years to replace the 1980 Constitution, after voters rejected the first proposal in 2022. The other two were the elected Constitutional Council, which was to debate and amend the commission's text, and a 14-member technical committee that checked the draft against a set of agreed constitutional principles.
Law No. 21,533, published on 17 January 2023, established the commission. The commissioners, divided almost evenly between the governing coalition and the right-wing opposition, began work on 6 March 2023. They approved a 14-chapter draft by consensus at the end of May and delivered it to the Constitutional Council on 7 June 2023. The council, in which the Republican Party was the largest group, substantially rewrote the text, and voters rejected the council's version in a referendum on 17 December 2023.
Background
On 4 September 2022, Chileans voted in a national plebiscite known as the "exit plebiscite" on the new Political Constitution of the Republic drafted earlier that year by the Constitutional Convention. The proposal had faced "intense criticism that it was too long, too left-wing and too radical" and was rejected by 62% to 38%. Observers described it as one of the world's most progressive constitutions, but many voters found it too polarizing, and controversies marred the process. The 1980 Constitution therefore remained in force.
Agreement for Chile Political parties reached the "Agreement for Chile" (Acuerdo por Chile) on 12 December 2022 as a second attempt to draft a new constitution under different rules. It provided for 50 directly elected constitutional councillors to write the constitution from a preliminary draft prepared by 24 experts appointed by Congress. A 14-member body, also appointed by Congress, was to ensure that the text complied with 12 institutional and fundamental principles set out in the agreement.
The right-leaning Congress ratified the agreement as a constitutional reform a month later, although the Republican Party and the Party of the People did not take part in the agreement while agreeing to contest the elections. Unlike in the previous convention, a three-fifths majority was needed to approve articles, instead of two-thirds. The number of seats reserved for Indigenous representatives was not fixed but depended on the votes Indigenous candidates received, and the council was required to have equal numbers of men and women.
Mandate and procedure The commission's task was to prepare a preliminary draft (anteproyecto) of a new constitution for the 50 members of the Constitutional Council to discuss, starting in June 2023. The work period ran from 6 March to 6 June 2023, and the council was to begin work after the commission finished. Once the council was installed, the commissioners could attend its plenary sessions and committees and speak, but not vote.. They could also sit on a joint committee with councillors to resolve disagreements over the text.
The commission divided into four subcommissions of six members each, with every subcommission assigned a thematic area:. political system, constitutional reform and form of the State; jurisdictional function and autonomous bodies; principles, civil and political rights; and economic, social, cultural and environmental rights.
A subcommission needed an absolute majority of its members present to meet, and its agreements required the support of at least three-fifths of its members. The plenary could meet with at least one-third of members present, and any provision included in the draft had to be approved by at least three-fifths of the commissioners..
Composition Appointment Congress appointed the 24 commissioners, half chosen by the Chamber of Deputies and half by the Senate. Each appointment needed the approval of four-sevenths of the members of the relevant chamber... The chamber of deputies voted on 24 January 2023 and the Senate on 25 January. Around the same time a joint committee of senators and deputies drew up the rules of procedure for the three bodies, which were approved on 23 January 2023.
Parliamentary groups Ten commissioners came from the right-wing Chile Vamos coalition, six from the center-left Democratic Socialism, and four from the left-wing Approve Dignity. The Christian Democratic Party had two members, the Republican Party one, and one independent had no party affiliation.
Coalition/PartyMembers Chile VamosNational Renewal5Independent Democratic Union4Evópoli1 Democratic SocialismSocialist Party3Party for Democracy2Liberal Party1 Approve DignityCommunist Party1Social Convergence1Democratic Revolution1Social Green Regionalist Federation1 Christian Democratic Party2 Republican Party1Independent (supported by RN, PdG and Yellows)1
Members Party entries marked "independent" refer to commissioners who ran under the banner of a party without being members. ImageNameCoalitionPartyAppointed bySubcommissionPaz AnastasiadisNonePDCChamber of DeputiesJurisdictional functionJaime ArancibiaChile VamosRNSenateRightsAlexis CortésApprove DignityPCChChamber of DeputiesRightsCarlos FrontauraNoneIndependent (nominated by the Republican Party)Chamber of DeputiesPrinciplesMagaly FuenzalidaApprove DignityIndependent (nominated by the FRVS)SenatePrinciplesNatalia GonzálezChile VamosIndependent (nominated by the UDI)Chamber of DeputiesPolitical systemBettina HorstChile VamosIndependent (nominated by the UDI)SenateRightsAlejandra KraussNonePDCSenateRightsCatalina LagosDemocratic SocialismPSSenatePrinciplesHernán LarraínChile VamosUDISenateJurisdictional functionDomingo LoveraApprove DignityRDChamber of DeputiesJurisdictional functionKatherine MartorellChile VamosRNSenateJurisdictional functionGabriel OsorioDemocratic SocialismPSSenatePolitical systemJuan José OssaChile VamosRNChamber of DeputiesPolitical systemMáximo PavezChile VamosUDIChamber of DeputiesPrinciplesMarcela PeredoNoneIndependent (nominated by the PDG)Chamber of DeputiesPrinciplesFlavio QuezadaDemocratic SocialismPSChamber of DeputiesRightsTeodoro RiberaChile VamosRNSenateRightsAntonia RivasApprove DignityCSChamber of DeputiesPolitical systemCatalina SalemChile VamosIndependent (nominated by RN)Chamber of DeputiesJurisdictional functionLeslie SánchezDemocratic SocialismPLSenateJurisdictional functionFrancisco SotoDemocratic SocialismIndependent (nominated by the PPD)SenatePolitical systemSebastián SotoChile VamosEvópoliSenatePolitical systemVerónica UndurragaDemocratic SocialismIndependent (nominated by the PPD)Chamber of DeputiesPrinciplesBold indicates the chair of the subcommission.
Leadership The commission was inaugurated on 6 March 2023 at the Palace of the former National Congress in Santiago. Hernán Larraín, at 75 the oldest commissioner, chaired the opening session.. The rules provided for the president to be elected by majority vote and the vice president to be the runner-up, but the 24 commissioners instead agreed unanimously, without a vote, on Verónica Undurraga as president and Sebastián Soto as vice president.. Opposition commissioners chaired three of the four subcommissions.
OfficeNamePolitical groupPresidentVerónica UndurragaParty for DemocracyVice presidentSebastián SotoEvópoli
Draft constitution The four subcommissions voted on more than 900 amendments before the plenary took up the text. On 30 May 2023, almost three months after being installed, the commission finished voting on the 14 chapters of the preliminary draft. Undurraga said the commission had fulfilled its mandate, and that the 24 commissioners had defended differing views "with conviction and even with passion". Among other provisions, the draft proposed replacing the Constitutional Court's predecessor, the Constitutional Tribunal, with a new Constitutional Court, and removed the president's casting vote on the court. Soto said the commissioners had sought a consensus text that would "convene and not divide". Several proposals that the commission rejected, and some votes with dissenting commissioners, were expected to return for debate in the council.
The commission officially presented the text on 5 June 2023 after the General Secretariat of the Constitutional Process reviewed it. Undurraga described the achievement as "half of the way". The commission handed the draft to the newly installed Constitutional Council on 7 June 2023.
Aftermath The Constitutional Council, elected on 7 May 2023, used the commission's draft as its working base. The vote gave the right-wing parties, and the Republican Party above all, the largest share of seats. The council's own proposal was put to a mandatory referendum on 17 December 2023, where about 55.76% voted against and 44.24% in favor. Turnout was 84.5%, and voting was compulsory. President Gabriel Boric said his government would not pursue a third rewrite attempt and the 1980 Constitution stayed in force.
References
External links
Official website of the constitutional process