National Congress of Chile Congreso Nacional de Chile | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Senate Chamber of Deputies |
| Leadership | |
President of the Senate | Adriana Muñoz D'Albora |
President of the Chamber | Diego Paulsen |
| Structure | |
) | |
Political groups | Government Opposition
Others
|
) | |
Political groups | Government
Opposition
Others
|
| Elections | |
| Open list proportional representation | |
| Meeting place | |
| Valparaíso, Chile | |
| Website | |
| Cámara de Diputados (in Spanish) Senado (in Spanish) | |
The National Congress of Chile (Spanish: Congreso Nacional de Chile) is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.
The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), of 155 Deputies (120 before 2017) and by the Senate (upper house), formed by 43 Senators (38 before 2017) which will increase its size to 50 senators after the next general election.
The organisation of Congress and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of the current constitution and by the Constitutional Organic Law No. 18,918.
)
Congress meets in the Chile Congress building, which was built during the last years of the Pinochet regime and stands in the port city of Valparaíso, some 140 km west of the capital, Santiago. This new building replaced the Former National Congress Building, located in downtown Santiago.
On 13 September 1973, the Government Junta of Chile dissolved Congress.[1]
Accusations of bias in the design of the legislative electoral system
The 1980 Constitution defined a complicated scheme, unique in the world, for electing the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Each Deputy or Senator was elected from a two-member district. Parties or coalitions put two-member lists on the ballot. If the first-place list in a district won more than twice the votes of the second-place list, both its nominees were elected; otherwise, the top candidate from each list went to Valparaiso, the seat of Chile’s Congress. It has been argued this scheme was expressly designed by the Pinochet regime to favor election of right-wing legislative majorities.[2] Several rounds of constitutional amendments have been enacted since 1980 to correct this concern.[2][3]
See also
References
- ^ "Junta general names himself as new President of Chile". The Guardian. 14 September 1973. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ a b Carey, John M. Malapportionment and ideological bias in Chilean electoral districts. Dartmouth College. May 18, 2015.
- ^ Carey, John. Chile’s electoral reform. Global Americans. May 27, 2015.
External links