LatinNews Daily Report - 8 January 2014

POLITICS | Lower chamber approves first step towards ending binomial system. On 7 January, Chile’s chamber of deputies approved (by 73 votes in favour and 10 against), an amended bill eliminating the constitutional provision (Art. 47) that fixes the number of lower chamber seats at 120. The move is widely considered the first reforming step towards ending Chile’s binomial electoral system, which assigns two deputy seats to each electoral district and which smaller parties complain favours the country’s two main coalitions. A version of the bill was first approved by the lower chamber on 15 October 2013 but it underwent minor changes after being analysed by a congressional committee. The latest version, approved by the senate on 11 December 2013, now goes to the executive for promulgation.