Elections in Chile are conducted at the national, regional, and municipal levels to choose 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 conducted by secret ballot 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 (Servicio Electoral, or Servel), while official results are certified by the Election Certification Tribunal (Tricel).
Electoral cycles
Position2024–20252025–20262028–2029PresidentPrimary: June 29, 2025Election: November 16, 2025Runoff: December 14, 2025Inaugurated: March 11, 2026Primary: July 1, 2029Election: November 18, 2029Runoff: December 16, 2029Inaugurated: March 11, 2030Senate (half)Primary: June 29, 2025Election: November 16, 2025Inaugurated: March 11, 2026Primary: July 1, 2029Election: November 18, 2029Inaugurated: March 11, 2030Chamber of DeputiesPrimary: June 29, 2025Election: November 16, 2025Inaugurated: March 11, 2026Primary: July 1, 2029Election: November 18, 2029Inaugurated: March 11, 2030Regional Governors& BoardsPrimary: June 9, 2024Election: October 26–27, 2024Runoff: November 24, 2024Inaugurated: January 6, 2025Primary: July 9, 2028Election: October 29, 2028Runoff: November 26, 2028Inaugurated: January 6, 2029Mayors& CouncilorsPrimary: June 9, 2024Election: October 26–27, 2024Inaugurated: December 6, 2024Primary: July 9, 2028Election: October 29, 2028Inaugurated: December 6, 2028
Electorate
The right to vote in Chile extends to all Chilean citizens aged 18 or older 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, under which all eligible individuals are added to the electoral roll by default. Voting is compulsory for those registered, as it has been since 2023, following an eleven-year period (2012–2023) when voting was voluntary.
Since 2014, Chilean citizens living abroad have been able to vote in presidential elections (including primaries) 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.Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile. Chile Library of National Congress. A former president may run for office again after sitting out at least one term.
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 (calculated by excluding spoiled and blank ballots). 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—whereby 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.Organic Constitutional Law on Popular Elections and Vote Counting. Chile Library of National Congress. Based on the 2025 elections, for example, 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 (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house). The Chamber of Deputies has 155 members elected from 28 multi-member districts. The Senate has 50 members elected from 16 regional constituencies.
Each electoral district elects between three and eight deputies, while each regional constituency elects between two and five senators. Seats in both chambers are allocated using the D'Hondt method of proportional representation.
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 (1990–1994), while those from even-numbered regions and the Santiago Metropolitan Region served full eight-year terms (1990–1998).Chile's regions were numbered consecutively from north to south following the 1974 regionalization reform under the military government (e.g., I Región de Tarapacá, II Región de Antofagasta, etc.). These numerical designations were widely used in official documents and public discourse until the 2000s, when they gradually fell out of use in favor of the regions' names.
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 (120 seats total) and 19 two-seat constituencies for the Senate (38 elected seats). Chile was unique in applying the D'Hondt method exclusively to two-seat constituencies nationwide.
Under this system, the two electoral lists (whether from a pact, a party, or independents) 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 redrew 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.
After the 2015 electoral reform, Chileans elect the members of both houses of Congress through a form of open list proportional representation in multi-member districts (which can range from 3 to 8 seats in the lower house and from 2 to 5 in the upper house). Parties or party coalitions present lists to voters in each electoral district. Each voter casts one vote for a candidate on any list. Once voting concludes, seats in each district are allocated through the D'Hondt method, ordering lists from highest to lowest according to total votes and ordering candidates within each list by the same principle. Seats are allocated in order of preference but not necessarily proportionally.
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 (Gobernador Regional), who is supported by an elected board of regional councilors (Consejeros Regionales, or COREs).
The regional governor is elected via a two-round system to 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 per 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. Previously, this position was held by an intendant (Intendente) appointed directly by the president. 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.