History of Chile/Government

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 Comander 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.


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 contains 20 members from the center-left governing coalition, 18 from the rightist opposition. In March 1998, nine newly appointed institutional senators appointed in 1999, and two "senators for life," former Presidents Pinochet and Frei. (Chile's constitution provides that former presidents who have served at least 6 years shall be entitled to a lifetime senate seat.) The last congressional elections were held in December 1997. The next congressional elections are scheduled for October 2001. The current lower house--the Chamber of Deputies-- contains 70 members of the governing coalition and 50 from the rightist opposition. The Congress is located in the port city of Valparaiso, about 140 kilometers (84 mi.) west of the capital, Santiago.

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.