A unitary state. From a functional and territorial perspective, its government is decentralized - or deconcentrated, as the case may be - by law. For governmental and administrative purposes, the country is divided into 15 regions and 54 provinces. For purposes of local administration, provinces are divided into comunas (municipalities - see Art. 99, Constitution of Chile). The country is divided into 15 regions, which are sub-divided into provinces, which are in turn divided into 346 comunas, governed by 345 municipal governments (the municipal government of Cape Horn is responsible for the comunas of Cape Horn and Antarctica).

El Congreso Nacional es bicameral. La Cámara de Diputados está integrada por miembros elegidos en votación directa por distritos electorales. Los 155 escaños se distribuyen proporcionalmente entre los 28 distritos en consideración a la población de cada uno de ellos, en base a los datos proporcionados por el último censo oficial de la población realizado por el Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas. El Senado se compone de cincuenta (50) miembros elegidos en votación directa por circunscripciones senatoriales, en consideración a las regiones del país, cada una de las cuales constituirá, a lo menos, una circunscripción. El año 2015 se promulgó la ley 20.840 que estableció un nuevo Sistema Electoral para elecciones parlamentarias, reemplazando al Sistema Binominal.

The mayor is the highest municipal authority. Mayors are responsible for directing, managing and overseeing municipal government (Law Nº 18,695 - Organic Constitutional Municipalities Law. Title II (Mayors), paragraph 1, Art. 56). Mayors are chosen by universal suffrage, concurrently with councilpersons, but on a separate ballot, as required by law (Title II., Art.75) http://www.bcn.cl/leyes/pdf/actualizado/251693.pdf. Each municipality is headed by a council with normative, operative and oversight functions (....), comprised of six to ten councilpersons, depending on the number of electors in each comuna.

Mayors and councilpersons serve for renewable four-year terms.

Simple-majority system. No minimum election threshold for mayors. Municipal councils are made up of councilpersons elected by direct suffrage, through a proportional representation system.

Open non-party lists.

Uninominal for mayors. Councilpersons are elected using a plurinominal mechanism based on the D'Hondt allocation method.

No quota laws.

Organic Constitutional Municipalities Law (Law Nº 18,695). Constitution of Chile, among other sources. The Chilean electoral system is governed by the Constitution. See http://www.tribunalcalificador.cl/obtienes-fichas.php?seccion_id=111&base=111 Municipal elections are governed by Law No. 18,695.

The country possesses two autonomous electoral agencies. The Electoral Service (SERVEL) is the highest-ranking electoral body. The Electoral Tribunal (TRICEL) inspects and verifies all electoral processes. It also adjudicates disputes. (Art. 84 of the Constitution, Art.9 of Law N° 18,460). SERVEL liaises with the President of the Republic through the Ministry of the Interior. http://www.servel.cl/servel/index.aspx?channel=121 E