Chilean transition to democracy

The military dictatorship of Chile led by General Augusto Pinochet ended on 11 March 1990 and was replaced by a democratically elected government. The transition period lasted roughly two years, between 1988 and 1990, a period which encompasses the rejection of Pinochet at the 1988 plebiscite, the 1989 constitutional revision, and the 1989 presidential election and ensuing presidential handover from Pinochet to Christian DemocratPatricio Aylwin in 1990. However, some aspects of the process lasted significantly longer; for this reason, there is no consensus among historians as to whether the transition is still ongoing or has been over. Notable events in these extended aspects include, from earliest to latest, the arrest and trial of Pinochet in 1998-2000; the 2005 constitutional reforms, which removed the remaining authoritarian vestiges from the Chilean constitution; the election of center-right businessman Sebastián Piñera, the first post-Junta president not to come from the Concertación, the coalition of parties formed to oppose Pinochet's continued rule, in 2010; the replacement of the binomial voting system, designed by the military regime to benefit right-wing parties sympathetic to it, with a conventional system of party-list proportional representation in 2017; and the attempted constitutional replacement process initiated in 2020 and ensuing rejections of a proposed left-wing constitution in 2022 and right-wing constitution in 2023.

Unlike most democratic transitions, led by either the elite or the people, Chile's democratic transition process is known as an intermediate transition – a transition involving both the regime and the civil society. Throughout the transition, though the regime increased repressive violence, it simultaneously supported liberalization – progressively strengthening democratic institutions and gradually weakening those of the military.

Three factors contributed to the rise of democracy: the economy, the role of the military, and domestic politics. Rapid economic growth (attributed to a low inflation environment), a decline in dictatorship, and the decision of political parties to come together became the main motivation for a broad ideological coalition to be created in an effort to defeat Pinochet and his military rule. Chile was previously a democracy during the Presidential Republic (1925–1973).

Preparation for the transition began within the dictatorship itself, when a constitution establishing a transition process was approved in a plebiscite. From 11 March 1981 to March 1990, several organic constitutional laws were approved, intended to lead to the restoration of democracy. After the 1988 plebiscite, the 1980 Constitution (still in effect today) was amended to ease provisions for future amendments to the constitution, create more seats in the senate, diminish the role of the National Security Council, and equalize the number of civilian and military members (four members each).