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Politics of Chile

Chile's government is a representative democratic republic, in which the President of Chile serves as both head of state and head of government, within a formal multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the president and their cabinet. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the National Congress. The judiciary operates independently of both the executive and legislative branches.

The Constitution of Chile was approved in a national plebiscite in September 1980, during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and came into effect in March 1981. After Pinochet was voted out of office in 1988, the Constitution was amended the following year to simplify the process for future amendments.

In September 2006, President Ricardo Lagos signed into law several constitutional amendments passed by Congress. These reforms included eliminating the positions of appointed senators and senators for life, granting the President the authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces, and reducing the presidential term from six to four years, while also prohibiting immediate re-election.

According to the V-Dem Democracy indices, Chile was the third most electorally democratic country in Latin America in 2023.

Statistical analysis suggests that Chilean politicians in Congress are not randomly drawn from the population but over-represent high-income communities. As a result, Chileans of Castilian-Basque, Palestinian, and Jewish ancestry are disproportionately represented. Provided by Wikipedia