The National Congress of Chile ( es, Congreso Nacional de Chile) is the

legislative branch A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

of the government of the

Republic of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. 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 A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

and by the Constitutional Organic Law No. 18,918. Congresschile

Congress meets in the Chile Congress building, which was built during the last years of the

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

regime and stands in the port city of

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

, some 140 km west of the capital,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

. This new building replaced the Former National Congress Building, located in downtown Santiago. On 13 September 1973, the Government Junta of Chile dissolved Congress. Statistical analysis suggest Chilean politicians in Congress "are not randomly drawn from the population, but over-represent high-income communities". As such, Chileans of Castilian-Basque,

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ancestry are overrepresented in it.

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 Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

to favour the election of right-wing legislative majorities.Carey, John M
Malapportionment and ideological bias in Chilean electoral districts.
Dartmouth College. May 18, 2015. Several rounds of constitutional amendments have been enacted since 1980 to address this concern.Carey, John
Chile’s electoral reform.
Global Americans. May 27, 2015.

References

External links

Cámara de Diputados

Senado
{{coord, 33, 02, 52, S, 71, 36, 21, W, type:landmark, display=title Government of Chile

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Accusations of bias in the design of the legislative electoral system

See also

References

External links