Chile’s Security Reform Reaches the Senate After the UDI Changes Its Mind
Chile · Politics
Key Facts
- —What happened Chile filed its security reform in the Senate on Tuesday (US$…), with 15 days for Congress to act.
- —How big a jump The reform needs a four-sevenths majority, or 89 of 155 deputies and 29 of 50 senators, to pass.
- —The real story The centrepiece: a state of exception for grave threats, lasting 120 days, renewable once (US$…).
- —The catch The ruling UDI party said no Sunday, reversed Monday, and hasn’t formally committed before reading the text.
- —Who it touches Chile’s reform keeps predictable rules and targets crime with special prisons and a lifetime ban for terrorists (US$…).
- —What comes next The Senate decides the state-of-exception rule’s fate; government may trade it to save reform.
The party that said no on Sunday was promising a wide majority by Monday — and on Tuesday the reform went to the Senate on the fastest track there is.
Chile’s security reform looked stuck at the weekend, blocked by a party on the government’s own side. Four days later it is in the Senate on the fastest legislative track the country has, and the party that blocked it is predicting it will pass comfortably.
What was actually filed, and how the week turned
On Sunday 16 August the UDI’s president, Guillermo Ramírez, told La Tercera that his party could not support the reform. His objection was not the goal but the method — that the draft would write exceptions to general principles into the constitution itself.
“We are putting into the constitution exceptions to general principles that in the end weaken the constitution,” he said. At that point he had not seen the final text and said so.
On Monday 17 August the government held an expanded political committee at La Moneda. The security minister, Martín Arrau, took the coalition through the text that would actually be filed.
Ramírez came out of it sounding like a different man. “When the government presents the constitutional reforms in Congress tomorrow, it is going to receive very wide support,” he said, adding that “the UDI today is calm.”
He still would not formally commit his party’s votes before reading the filed text. Asked directly, he said the answer “can be guessed.”
The reform went into the Senate on Tuesday 18 August with suma urgencia — the fastest track Chilean procedure allows, giving Congress 15 days.
What arrived was smaller than what was announced. Eight constitutional changes, not eleven.
The centrepiece is a new state of exception. A president could declare it when public security is under grave and imminent threat, or has been seriously damaged.
It would last up to 120 days and be renewable once for the same period. Beyond that, the president would have to go back to Congress.
The text also allows special prison regimes for the most dangerous convicts — restricting their communications, limiting visits, or moving them to separate facilities. One summary of the filed text includes a lifetime ban from public office for anyone convicted of terrorism or drug trafficking.
What the reform actually does
The package is called ACOT, the Agenda Against Organised Crime and Terrorism. It has one constitutional reform and about thirty separate bills.
The government wants quick action.
The constitutional part makes eleven changes. It makes public security a state duty in the constitution.
It creates a list of criminal groups and sets up separate prisons for organised crime convicts.
The most debated part is a new state of exception. This starts if public security is badly disturbed.
In the draft that circulated before filing it lasted thirty days. In the text the government actually filed it runs up to 120 days, renewable once.
None of this is law yet. The text goes to the Senate first.
It is officially presented on Tuesday 18 August, which explains why the conflict’s timing matters.
The UDI said no before reading it
Guillermo Ramírez, the UDI’s president, said it clearly. As things are now, the party cannot back the security changes because they hurt the country’s institutions, in his view.
He said this before the final text reached Congress. That order—rejecting before seeing the document—is what upset the government.
Kast did not defend the details in reply. He said it is too early to claim the reform lacks votes when it has not been formally presented yet.
Senator Iván Moreira, also from the UDI, made the same limited point. His argument was simply that the reform’s final text is not yet known.
RN backs the goal and questions the method
Renovación Nacional is the other big party on the government’s side. It did not reject the proposal like the UDI did.
Its leader is Andrea Balladares, a senator elected on 28 March 2026. She is the first woman to lead the party.
Her objection is about how the change would happen. She said the constitution cannot be a list of measures or be rewritten every time the country has a problem.
Her summary of the disagreement is the clearest one offered. On security, what is needed is effectiveness, not maximalism.
Raúl Soto is a deputy for the PPD and leads the party. He sits with the opposition and went beyond simple procedural complaints.
That language shows what the fight will be about once the text is public. It is not about whether Chile should fight organised crime, but about how much permanent power the state should take.
The government asked for fast-track treatment of the whole ACOT package. This package includes one constitutional reform and about thirty ordinary bills.
He said the draft carries the seed of an illiberal, autocratic or authoritarian government. He also called it a possible Trojan horse inside the ACOT package.
The ordinary bills need simple majorities. The constitutional one does not.
She said RN strongly backs the government’s security agenda. That is support, not a break.
The opposition goes harder
What happens from Tuesday
The government can push the thirty bills while it fights over the constitution. It can claim security progress without winning the argument.
The UDI’s stance is not a final choice. Ramírez said the party’s position is temporary, so it can change when the text is released.
Watch one narrow issue: will the government trade away the new state of exception to save the rest? Or keep it and risk the whole reform?
Why this matters if you live in or invest in Latin America
Chile is the benchmark for investors in the region who want predictable rules. That is the real asset at risk, not any single crime number.
The math is hard. A four-sevenths majority means 89 of 155 deputies and 29 of 50 senators, and the government cannot reach that if a coalition party is openly against it.
So the likely results are a narrower, negotiated reform or a standstill. Either way, the signal is that constitutional change still needs broad support, which is the reassuring part of a messy week.
Watch the Senate from Tuesday. The key question is not if the UDI is upset, but if the state-of-exception rule survives in a chamber the government does not control.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Chile’s security reform passed?
No. It was filed in the Senate on Tuesday 18 August 2026 with suma urgencia, the fastest track available, which gives Congress 15 days. It has not been voted.
Why is Kast’s own coalition resisting?
It did on Sunday 16 August. After the government showed the coalition the text it would file, the UDI’s president Guillermo Ramírez said on Monday he expected very wide support. RN’s president Andrea Balladares backs the security agenda but questions using the constitution to deliver it.
What did Kast actually say?
He called it premature to say the reform does not have the votes, on the grounds that the final text had not yet been formally presented. He did not argue the substance.
What majority does it need?
Four-sevenths of both chambers — 89 of 155 deputies and 29 of 50 senators. That is why the UDI’s change of position on Monday mattered so much.
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Sources: Reforma de seguridad de Kast divide a senadores de derecha; Los 11 cambios a la Constitución que contempla …; Avanza en Chile un proyecto que busca ampliar la legítima de; Nueva fricción en Gobierno: Chomali cuestiona reforma de …; Reforma constitucional de seguridad tensiona a la UDI y suma
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