Home > Politics of Chile

1 Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Chile
conventional short form: Chile
local long form: Republica de Chile
local short form: Chile

Data code: CI

Capital:

Administrative divisions:

• XI Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo ,
• II Antofagasta,
• IX Araucanía ,
• III Atacama,
• VIII Bío-Bío,
• IV Coquimbo,
• VI Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins,
• X Los Lagos,
• XII Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena,
• VII Maule,
• RM Región Metropolitana (wich includes the capital Santiago),
• I Tarapacá ,
• V Valparaíso

note: the US does not recognize claims to Antarctica

Independence: 12 February 1818 (from Spain)

National holiday: First National Government Board, 18 September (1810)

ConstitutionChile's current constitution, approved by a referendum in the year 1980, replaced the earlier constitution from 1925. In its permanent dispositions, it gave the President of the Republic a large amount of power; some of these dispositions, such as the pow: 11 September 1980, effective 11 March 1981; amended 30 July 1989 in 1993 and 2001

International organization participation: APEC, CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOGIP, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

2 Legislative branch

Bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of the

Senate or Senado

• 38 elected members, two for each circumsciption. Of the 13 regions,6 are divided in two circumsciptions, seven correspond to one. They have 8 year staggered terms.

• nine appointed members:
  • two former members of the Supreme Court, elected by this.
  • one ex Contralor (head of la Contraloria General de la Republica, institution that examines the legality of all the actions of the administration), also elected by the Supreme Court.
  • one ex Commander in Chief of the Army, one of the Navy, one of the Air Force and one ex Director General of Carabineros, all of them elected by the National Security Council.
  • one ex president of an accredited University, designated by the President of the Republic.
  • one ex Ministro de Estado (head of a Ministerio, Secretary), also designated by the President of the Republic.

Appointed Senators also have 8 year terms.

• Former Presidents can join the Senate, becoming senadores vitalicios, senators for life

Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (120 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) Chile's bicameral Congress has a 49-seat Senate--38 elected, 9 appointed, 2 for life--and a 120-member Chamber of Deputies. Deputies are elected every 4 years.

Senators serve for 8 years with staggered terms. The current Senate composition is 19 of the governing coalition, 18 of the opposition, 1 independent (who was part of one of the governing parties, but resigned), 9 appointed and one for life. In March 1998, nine newly appointed institutional senators appointed in 1999, and one "senator for life," former President FreiEduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (born June 24, 1942) was President of Chile from 1994 to 2000. His father, Eduardo Frei Montalva, was also president, from 1964 to 1970. Preceded by Patricio Aylwin Azocar Presidents of Chile Succeeded by Ricardo Lagos Escobar Frei. (Chile's constitution provides that former presidents who have served at least 6 years shall be entitled to a lifetime senate seat.) General Augusto PinochetGeneral Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte (pronounced, SAMPA: /aw"gusto pino"tSEt/; IPA: /aw'gusto/ or /a'gusto/, /pino'εt/ or /pino'ε/) (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. was senator for life, but resigned because of his age. The last congressional elections were held in October 2001. The next congressional elections are scheduled for 2006. The current lower house--the Chamber of Deputies-- contains 58 members of the governing coalition and 53 from the rightist opposition and 8 "independent" (many of whom runned on opposition tickets in the last elections or others who where expelled from the Democracia Cristiana party because they where accused of frauds).

Since 1987 the Congress is located in the port city of Valparaíso, about 140 kilometers (84 mi.) west of the capital, Santiago. However there are some laws that allow the comissions to meet in other places, especially Santiago. The congress-men have tried many times to move the Congress back to Santiago, where it was located until 1973The Chilean coup d'etat of 11 September 1973 was a watershed event in the history of Chile. Historians and partisans alike have wrangled over its implications ever since. In Chile's 1970 presidential election, in accordance with the constitution, Congress, but the act have never passed all the procedures. The last attemp was in 2000 when the project was rejected by the Constitutional Court, because it allocated funds from the national budget and under the Chilean Constitution, that It's a privilege of the President.

Chile's congressional elections are governed by a unique binomial system that rewards coalition slates. Each coalition can run two candidates for the two Senate and two lower chamber seats apportioned to each chamber's electoral districts. Typically, the two largest coalitions split the seats in a district. Only if the leading coalition ticket out-polls the second-place coalition by a margin of more than 2-to-1 does the winning coalition gain both seats. The political parties with the largest representation in the current Chilean Congress are the centrist Christian Democrat Party and the center-right National Renewal Party. The Communist Party and the small Humanist Party failed to gain any seats in the 1997 elections.

Chile's judiciary is independent and includes a court of appeal, a system of military courts, a constitutional tribunal, and the Supreme Court.