La cohesión legislativa entre la Concertacion y el Partido Comunista en Chile, 2010-2013

Abstract

Though it first won seats in the Chilean Congress in 2009 thanks to an electoral pact with the center-left Concertacion, the Partido Comunista (pc) was not formally a member of the coalition in the 2010-2013 legislative period. As part of the opposition, there were instances of cooperation between the Concertacion and the pc. We assess if that cooperation was also present in the legislative behavior. Applying the theory of competing principals to the party and coalition affiliation that Chilean legislators might have, we analyze the 1284 legislative bills introduced in the Chamber of Deputies in the period. Though they formed an electoral coalition, the Concertacion and pc did not behave as a political coalition in terms of bill sponsorship. Though the pc is closer to the Concertacion than to other parties, there is greater distance between the PC and Concertacion parties than within the Concertacion. There is also greater distance between the pc and the Partido Democrata Cristiano (pdc) than between the pdc and rightwing parties.