President Bachelet: “We are sending a single message as a nation: anyone who betrays the spirit of democracy shall not be a stakeholder in it.”
Yesterday morning in the Montt Varas Room of the La Moneda Palace, President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, accompanied by Minister Secretary General of the Presidency Nicolás Eyzaguirre and Minister Secretary General of the Government Marcelo Díaz, enacted the law that establishes that congressmen, mayors, regional councilors, and local council members who violate regulations regarding electoral transparency, limits, and spending will lose their seats.
“We are sending a single message as a nation: anyone who betrays the spirit of democracy shall not be a stakeholder in it. In other words, anyone who cheats will lose. We are trying to eradicate intolerable acts because a person who betrays the trust expressed in the laws in order to reach public office cannot serve as a representative of the public interest,” the President noted.
During her remarks, she explained that individuals who have been elected local council members, mayors, regional councilors, deputies, and senators will automatically lose their seats if they violate campaign finance laws.
Bachelet also said that those who lose their position because they have failed to finance their campaign in accordance with the law shall not be able to hold any other public office or position for three years. They also will be prohibited from being candidates for elected office for the next two election cycles.
“These sanctions are undoubtedly among the most serious in our legal system. As such, they will have to be well-founded and appropriately certified. This will be determined by the Elections Certification Board at the request of the Governing Board of the Electoral Service if there is a serious violation of rules on electoral transparency, limits, and spending,” she said.
Bachelet added, “We are giving Chile a strong legislative structure that addresses the issues that we are facing today and also prevents future risks. We want calls for greater transparency and oversight to be met with an adequate response and for us to recover our citizens’ faith in our institutions through actions rather than words.”
Finally, the President thanked members of Congress for their swift passage of this bill and reiterated her call “for us to continue to work towards the Probity and Transparency Agenda, which will also allow us to restore the public trust.”