Elections in Chile
Elections in Chile are conducted at the national, regional, and municipal levels to elect the President, members of the National Congress, regional authorities, and local mayors and councilors.
Chile operates under a system of automatic voter registration. All Chilean citizens and foreign residents with at least five years of legal residency, who are 18 years or older on election day, are automatically enrolled. While voting was voluntary between 2012 and 2023, it has since been reinstated as compulsory.
The President of Chile, who serves as both head of state and head of government, is elected by popular vote to a four-year term and may run again after at least one term out of office. The country's bicameral Congress consists of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate, elected through a system of proportional representation. A significant electoral reform in 2017 replaced the previous binomial voting system, creating new electoral districts and constituencies.
At the sub-national level, voters directly elect regional governors and councilors, as well as municipal mayors and councilors. The constitution also provides for binding national and local referendums. Chile employs a system of state-run, binding primary elections to select candidates for most elected offices.
The voting process is secret and conducted in person, with voters required to present a valid national identity card or passport. The entire electoral process is administered by the independent Electoral Service, while the official results are certified by the Election Certification Court.
Schedule
Election
Inauguration
Electorate
The right to vote in Chile extends to all Chilean citizens aged 18 or over on election day. Foreign nationals who have been legal residents for a continuous period of at least five years are also eligible.Chile operates a system of automatic voter registration, where all eligible individuals are added to the electoral roll by default. Voting is compulsory for those registered. This has been the case since 2023, following an eleven-year period when voting was voluntary.
Since 2014, Chilean citizens living abroad have been able to vote in presidential elections and national referendums from their country of residence.
Presidential elections
The President of Chile is both the head of state and head of government and is directly elected to a single, non-renewable four-year term. A former president may run for office again after at least one term out of office.The election is conducted by popular vote under a runoff system. To win outright in the first round, a candidate must secure an absolute majority of valid votes. If no candidate achieves this, a second round is held between the top two finishers. This system replaced the previous practice, abandoned after the 1989 constitutional reforms, where the Congress would choose the president from among the leading candidates if no one won an absolute majority.
Presidential candidates can be nominated by any registered political party. Independent candidates must qualify by gathering signatures from a number of voters equal to at least 0.5% of those who voted in the most recent election for the Chamber of Deputies. For example, based on the 2025 elections, this requirement amounted to 35,361 signatures.
Under the constitution, the first round of the presidential election is held on the third Sunday of November in the year before the incumbent's term expires. A potential runoff follows on the fourth Sunday thereafter. The president-elect is inaugurated on the day the outgoing president's term concludes, which has been March 11 in every election since the return to democracy in 1990.
Prior to a 2011 electoral reform, the first round was scheduled 90 days before the end of the presidential term, moved to the following Sunday if that date fell on a weekday. Any runoff was held 30 days after the first round, also adjusted to a Sunday.
Parliamentary elections
Chile's legislature, the National Congress, is a bicameral body composed of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.- The Chamber of Deputies has 155 members elected from 28 multi-member districts.
- The Senate has 50 members elected from 16 regional constituencies.
Terms for deputies last four years, with members eligible for two consecutive re-elections. Senators serve eight-year terms and may be re-elected for one subsequent consecutive term. Senate elections are staggered, with half of the seats contested every four years. Following the return to democracy in 1990, an initial transition period saw senators from odd-numbered regions serve four-year terms, while those from even-numbered regions and the Santiago Metropolitan Region served full eight-year terms.
Parliamentary elections are held concurrently with presidential elections, as stipulated by the constitution.
Candidacy and electoral alliances
Candidates can be nominated by registered political parties or by groups of independent citizens. Party-affiliated candidates must have been members of that party for at least two months prior to the election and must not have changed party affiliation within the previous nine months.Independent candidates must not have been members of any political party during the year preceding the election. To qualify, they must collect signatures from a number of independent voters equivalent to at least 0.5% of the total votes cast in their respective district or constituency in the previous election.
Two or more parties may form an electoral alliance, known locally as a pact, to jointly nominate a single list of candidates in each district. Candidates on an alliance list do not need to be members of any of the pact's constituent parties but cannot belong to a party outside the pact. Both pacts and parties running independently may nominate up to one more candidate than the number of seats available in a given district.
Electoral system prior to 2017
A major electoral reform in 2015 replaced the system used since the end of military rule. The old system, in use until the 2017 elections, was known as the binomial voting system.It divided the country into 60 two-seat districts for the Chamber of Deputies and 19 two-seat constituencies for the Senate. Chile was unique in applying the D'Hondt method exclusively to two-seat constituencies nationwide.
Under this system, the two electoral lists that received the most votes in a district would typically each win one seat. For one list to win both seats, it needed to at least double the vote total of the second-place list.
The 2015 reform re-drew the electoral map, creating fewer, larger districts and aligning senatorial constituencies with the country's regions. This new, more proportional system was first used in the 2017 general elections and significantly altered the composition of Congress.
Criticism
The binomial system was introduced by the military dictatorship that ruled Chile until 1990. It replaced the proportional representation system used before the 1973 coup. The design of the two-seat districts, often drawn to over-represent conservative rural areas that had supported the Pinochet regime, was a frequent target of criticism. The disparity between votes and seats was particularly pronounced in districts where the regime had performed poorly in the 1988 plebiscite.Amending the system was difficult, as it was protected by constitutional provisions requiring a three-fifths supermajority in both houses of Congress.
Critics, primarily from the center-left Concert of Parties for Democracy, argued the system distorted representation by preventing clear legislative majorities and artificially boosting the power of right-wing parties. The left often condemned it as undemocratic, arguing it effectively excluded parties and candidates outside the two dominant coalitions.
Supporters, mainly on the political right, defended the system as a source of political stability and argued that it encouraged the formation of broad, cohesive coalitions.
Regional elections
Each of Chile's regions is governed by a directly-elected regional governor, who is supported by an elected board of regional councilors.The regional governor is elected via a two-round system for a four-year term and is eligible for one immediate re-election. A candidate can avoid a runoff by winning at least 40 percent of the vote in the first round. Regional councilors also serve four-year terms and may be re-elected for up to two consecutive terms. The number of councilors for each region is determined by a formula based on the region's population and geographic area.
The first direct election for regional governor was held in May 2021. This position was previously held by an Intendant, who was appointed directly by the President of the Republic. Regional councilors were first directly elected in November 2013.
Electoral reform
The move toward direct election of regional officials was implemented in stages:- Regional Councilors: A 2009 constitutional amendment established the principle of directly elected regional councilors. The process was formally regulated by a law passed in June 2013.
- Regional Governors: A 2017 constitutional amendment allowed for the direct election of regional governors, with the specific regulations enacted into law in February 2018.
Previous system for Regional Councilors
Under that system:
- Each province in a region was allocated two councilors.
- Additional councilors were distributed among the provinces based on population, using the D'Hondt method.
- In each province, the candidate with the most votes won a seat. If multiple candidates ran as part of a list, the D'Hondt method was used to allocate the seats among the competing lists.
- Councilors served four-year terms with no term limits. They were elected 15 days after municipal councilors took office and were sworn in 60 days after their election.