RESILIENCIA

Chile has a presidential system that has been characterized as “reinforced” or “ultra-presidentialist” (Godoy 2003). This is a result of a set of exclusive legislative initiatives that favours a tight control of the legislative agenda by the Executive power, which becomes a de-facto agenda setter during the policy-making process (Aninat et al. 2006). Similar to the U.S. model, Congress is organised in a bicameral assembly (Deputies and Senate), and every legislative decision has to be mutually corroborated by the other chamber. Unlike the U.S. model, the President has exclusive initiative power in all matters of administration connected to the daily running of government, in addition to matters of legislation such as the political and administrative division of the country, taxation, labour legislation, social security, budgetary matters and, more importantly, any legislative initiative involving new allocation of resources or changes in public expenses (Aninat et al.

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2006). As a result of these arrangements, the Chilean Executive power has been described as having the greatest “institutional power” among Presidential systems in Latin America, a key predictor of agenda control by the Presidency (Santos et al. 2014).

There is some disagreement among scholars about the efficacy of the checks and balances in place to counterbalance the power of the Executive. Godoy (2003) argues that the system lacks a proper balance due to the extensive legislative powers of the Executive and the limited oversight capacities of Congress. Others have contended that in spite of the President’s strong ability to control legislative agendas, the system is protected by a series of veto players that prevent unilateral changes and push different actors towards strategies of cooperation (Aninat 2006).

2.1.1. Main political coalitions

Two stable coalitions have conducted politics in Chile since the recovery of democracy. These are the centre-left Concertación5 _{and the centre-right Alianza}6_. These coalitions, praised for their high level of stability and institutionalisation, have dominated public representation, both in the Executive and Congress, making the participation of other political actors marginal. Concertación led four

5

Concertación is shorthand for Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, a coalition formed to defeat Augusto Pinochet. It was located on the centre-left of the political spectrum and initially integrated four parties: Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC), Partido Socialista (PS), Partido por la Democracia (PPD) and Partido Radical-Social Demócrata (PRSD). The Concertación changed its name to Nueva Mayoría before running for the second term of Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018), incorporating three new parties: Izquierda Ciudadana (IC), Partido Comunista de Chile (PC) and Movimiento Amplio Social (MAS).

6

Alianza is shorthand for Alianza por Chile and it is located on the centre-right and right of the political spectrum. Historically, it integrated two parties: Renovación Nacional (RN) and Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI), the latter the party with the strongest links to Pinochet’s legacy. The coalition changed its name to Coalición por el Cambio between 2009 and 2012 but later returned to its previous name. Early in 2015, the coalition incorporated two further groups to their ranks: Partido Regionalista Independiente (PRI) and Evópoli and was renamed in October 2015 as Chile Vamos.

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consecutive governments, those of Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994), Eduardo Frei (1994-2000), Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006) and Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010).

Alianza gained office for the first time in 2010, with the election of Sebastián

Piñera (2010-2014). Despite the disparity in their electoral success in presidential elections (see figures 1 and 2) both coalitions show stable and competitive voting patterns, capturing around 90 per cent of votes in parliamentary elections.

Figure 1: Votes obtained for both coalitions in the first round of presidential elections. The column “others” reflects the total share of voting obtained by independent candidates (when more than one independent candidate ran for office, their votes have been combined). The textured blue column in 2014 stands for Nueva

Mayoría, the renovated version of Concertación. 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 1990 1994 2000 2006 2010 2014

Voting patterns in presidential elections- first round

Concertación Alianza Others

Source: Servel.cl (Own Elaboration)

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Figure 2: Votes obtained by both coalitions in the final round of presidential elections. From 2000-2014 no candidate obtained more than 50 per cent of votes in the first round, therefore a second election was held to decide between the two first majorities. Note that the centre-left coalition won all except one election (2010).

The stability of these two coalitions has been greatly encouraged by the so-called binomial electoral system, which was recently eliminated by President Bachelet following decades of discussions (Alvarez 2015). The system used lists of candidates who compete for two positions in each parliamentary district. In this system, each of the two lists garnering the most votes gets one of the available positions, unless the most voted list receives more than twice the votes of its nearest rival. The system introduced some distortions; in practice, both coalitions generally secured one representative per district, pushing their vote shares in Congress towards 50 per cent (Godoy, 2003). The system encouraged parties to remain organised in two coalitions, but offered high entry barriers for a third coalition or an independent party, reducing the number of relevant actors (Aninat

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 1990 1994 2000 2006 2010 2014

Voting patterns in presidential elections- final results

Concertación Alianza Others

Source: Servel.cl (Own Elaboration)

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et al. 2006). Additionally, minority parties with significant vote shares – but located outside the main coalitions – often ended with no parliamentary representation (Godoy 2003; Luna & Mardones 2010).

In a context where both coalitions have increasingly moved closer in their programmatic definitions, one of the main cleavages that still distinguishes these groups and their voters has been their positions regarding the military regime (Luna 2008), even as recent efforts by a more liberal sector of the right pushes to disengage from this heavy legacy.

Several political analysts agree that both coalitions are showing signs of wear and disconnection from their voters (Godoy 2003; Luna 2008; Luna & Mardones 2010). As a result, the coalitions have initiated more or less parallel strategies of expansion and rebranding. In order to return to power for a second period (2014- 2018), Michelle Bachelet was supported by a revamped Concertación, renamed

Nueva Mayoría, and extended further to the political left by incorporating the

Communist Party (PC), Izquierda Cristiana (IC) and Movimiento Amplio Social (MAS). Alianza, currently in the role of opposition, has embarked on a similar process and recently launched Chile Vamos, a group of four centre-right political parties (Canales 2015).7

7 _{Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI), Renovación Nacional (RN), Evópoli and Partido Regionalista}

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2.2. Mapping the key players: Description of the Chilean media