In Chile, two parties, one of which is in government, have made a formal proposal to introduce semi-presidentialism.

According to El Dínamo, the proposal was drawn up by senators from the National Renewal and Christian Democracy parties. However, it was signed by both party leaders. National Renewal is part of the Coalition for Change that won the 2009-2010 presidential and congressional elections. The text of the proposal is available in Spanish here on the website of the leader of Christian Democracy, Ignacio Walker.

The document provides a critique of presidentialism in Chile and then says a semi-presidential regime would be better. The document defines semi-presidentialism fairly conventionally as follows: “This implies a President elected by universal suffrage, with exclusive powers in international relations, national defense, and the oversight of a modern public administration and professional, with the power of moderation and arbitration, and with power to dissolve Congress once a term, and a Head of Government proposed by the President who should have the majority approval of Congress. The Prime Minister will be the head of government.”

The chances of the proposal being adopted are slim. An article by Grant Hurst in Global Insight (gated) reports that the Minister of Government Communications Andres Chadwick rejected the proposal to amend the current presidential system, which he described as “a source of political stability [that also] corresponds to a longstanding political tradition in Chile”.