Legislatures in Presidential Systems: The Latin American Experience

Chile boasted democratic continuity between 1932 and 1973 and, in consequence, the basic democratic institutions, particularly political parties and parliament, were able to develop. As Federico Gil noted already in the 1960s, ‘unlike many Latin American legislatures, the Chilean Congress is not a rubber-stamp body. It is an independent, properly elected, deliberative assembly, which often challenges the authority of the executive and participates actively in the determination of national policies’. ¹