Senate President Núñez Says Her Own Coalition Won't Back Kast's State of Exception; Government Pulls Legislative Fast-Track

Senate President Paulina Núñez, of Kast's center-right ally Renovación Nacional, publicly called on August 25 for withdrawing the new state-of-exception clause from the ACOT constitutional security reform, warning it 'no contará ni siquiera con los votos del oficialismo' (will not even have the ruling coalition's votes) and faulting Security Minister Martín Arrau for submitting the measure without first consulting lawmakers. The government responded by dropping the bill's legislative 'urgencia' (fast-track) designation in Congress. The same day, at a ceremony delivering 26 new vehicles to the PDI (Chile's investigative police), Kast pushed back on the internal resistance, arguing 'más medios no tienen sentido si no hay voluntad política' and that the state must respond to organized crime 'con fuerza, con firmeza' while safeguarding people's rights. A separate Tracking Ciudadano poll from Research Chile, also released August 25, found 56.4% reject the new state of exception and Kast's disapproval at 57.6% (37.4% approval).