Chile

A unitary, democratic, presidential republic. The State administration is functionally and territorially decentralized or deconcentrated as established by law.

The country is divided into three territorial units: region, province, and comuna (municipality). Currently, Chile has 16 regions, 56 provinces, and 346 comunas, governed by 345 municipalities (the municipality of Cabo de Hornos administers the comunas of Cabo de Hornos and Antarctica).

The National Congress is bicameral, composed of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies has 155 members elected directly by electoral districts. These members are distributed proportionally among 28 districts according to population data from the latest official census by the National Institute of Statistics. The Senate has 50 members elected by senatorial constituencies based on the regions, each constituting at least one constituency. In 2015, Law No. 20,840 established a new Electoral System for parliamentary elections, replacing the Binomial System.

Municipalities are composed of the mayor, who holds the highest authority, and the municipal council. The mayor directs, administers, and oversees municipal functioning (Organic Constitutional Law of Municipalities, Law No. 18,695, Title II, Art. 56) and is elected by universal suffrage, voting separately but concurrently with councilors as established by law. The Municipal Council has normative, decision-making, and oversight functions and facilitates community participation, composed of councilors elected directly through proportional representation. The number of councilors per comuna or group of comunas is determined by the Electoral Service resolution.

The presidency of the republic, deputies, mayors, and councilors serve four-year terms. Senators serve eight years, with staggered renewals every four years as determined by the relevant constitutional law.

The president is elected by absolute majority with a runoff if no candidate obtains 50% plus one of valid votes. Deputies and senators are elected using the D'Hondt seat allocation method. Mayors are elected by simple majority of valid votes in the comuna, while councilors are elected via proportional representation.

Open and non-blocked lists.

The president and mayors are elected from single-member constituencies; parliamentary deputies and councilors are elected from multi-member constituencies. The legislative branch divides the country into 16 senatorial constituencies and 28 electoral districts for deputies.

Yes. Law No. 20,840 (2015), replacing the Binomial System, introduced a quota law requiring political parties from 2017 through 2029 parliamentary elections to present no less than 40% female candidates.

Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile; Organic Constitutional Law of Municipalities (Law No. 18,695); and Decree with force of law No. 2 (2017) from the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency, which codifies Law No. 18,700 on the popular voting and vote counting system.

Chile has two autonomous electoral bodies. The highest electoral administration is the Electoral Service (SERVEL), an autonomous agency with its own legal personality and assets, responsible for supervising electoral and plebiscitary processes, transparency, electoral spending limits, political parties, and other functions established by constitutional law. The Electoral Tribunal (TRICEL) qualifies and verifies all electoral processes and acts as the court resolving electoral disputes (Art. 84 Constitution; Art. 9 Law No. 18,460).