Chile Reforms Electoral Representation

When Michelle Bachelet took office as Chile’s president for a second term in 2014, she assured her country that in this term, she would pursue a reform in the electoral representation of Chile. This month, the Senate passed a bill with a reform on the currently binomial representation system in order to achieve more representation in Congress. The binomial system was set up during Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship in Chile, dating to the 1970s, and to many Chileans this was an obstacle to democracy and representation of the diverse political views present in the country. The new electoral system will allow more representation for political parties, more populated districts, and limit the gender disparity in congress.

Democracies today do not all have proportional-representation electoral systems. In the US, this is a given due to their two-party system. However, Chile’s case resembled the electoral system in the UK, where opposition parties must form a coalition in order to constitute the “loyal opposition” in parliament. While this system is not inherently negative for a democracy, the origins of the binomial system in Chile have rendered it an obstacle to democratic representation in practice. The system’s duopoly greatly limits representation of smaller and newer political parties, and prevents either coalition from winning a majority in congress.

Pinochet, the US-backed military leader that followed socialist rule established by Salvador Allende, was in power in Chile from 1973 to 1990. During this period, following the neoliberal ideology of the “Chicago Boys,” Pinochet liberalized the Chilean economy, taking down trade barriers and relying on foreign investment. Since then, Chile has been one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America, although many dispute whether Pinochet can truly be credited for this success.

If Pinochet’s economic policy may have been beneficial for Chile, his politics certainly were not. Immediately after taking power in 1973, Pinochet banned all leftist parties and political opposition. His ruthless repression is documented in hundreds of cases of torture and civilian murders, some of the worst being done by the “Caravan of Death.” In the late 1980s, when democratic movements advocating for Pinochet’s stepping down from power were strongest, his binomial electoral system resulted beneficial to prolong his dictatorship. Elected opposition leaders in 1988, although having won a majority of votes for Congress, could not have a majority of seats and had to negotiate all law propositions with Pinochet’s supporters.

The political bloc most affected by this electoral system was always the center-left. While the political right saw the benefit of stability from the binomial system and were almost always favored by it, leftist parties, whose supporters comprise the younger and poorer, were always in disagreement. After years of protests, dicussions, and debate, President Bachelet has delivered her promise--Congress has passed the bill for the new electoral system. The number of congressmen will increase, there will be more representation of large and population-dense districts, as well as a quota that the gender disparity in Congress can be no more than 60%-40%.

This new electoral system will render Chile’s legislature more proportionally represented, which will mostly benefit new and smaller leftist parties. In what is a largely conservative country, in economic and social matters, this could produce a significant change in Chilean legislature and politics. Regardless of what the policy impact could be from this reform, there is general consensus that it enhances democratic processes and has a positive impact on political representation in Chile.