Chilean Elections
AS OF 2026-08-30 · 72 CONTESTS · presidential runoff, 14 December 2025 · WIKIPEDIA, NATIONAL ELECTORAL AUTHORITIES
Next election · general election, expected 2029 · Capital · Santiago in the metro rankings →
Where the chamber sits · 5.2 of 10, left to right, spread 2.0 →
Every Chilean presidential contest from 1826 to December 2025 and every parliamentary election since 1909: a century of presidents chosen by colleges of electors, the Parliamentary Republic in which Congress governed, Allende confirmed by Congress on 36.6%, the sixteen years without a vote, the plebiscite that ended them, and the return of compulsory voting.
Source: Wikipedia election articles · as of 2026-08-30
Chamber of Deputies
155
78 for a majority; the Senate has 50
Contests on file
72
December 2025
58.2%
Kast in the runoff, on 85.4% first-round turnout
Presidential elections
Every Chilean presidential contest from 1826, newest first. Everything before 1925 was decided by a college of electors, and where no candidate had a majority Congress chose between the top two; that vote is shown as the deciding round.
The return to democracy · 1989–2025
Two rounds since 1989, and the Concertación held the presidency for twenty years before the alternation began in earnest. Voting became voluntary in 2012 and turnout collapsed to the forties; compulsory voting with automatic registration returned for 2025 and turnout went back above 85%. In December 2025 José Antonio Kast took 58.2% in the runoff.
The dictatorship · 1973–1988
Allende was overthrown on 11 September 1973 and Chile held no competitive national election for sixteen years. The single entry here is the plebiscite of October 1988, held under the constitution the regime itself had written, offering one name and a yes or no answer. The No won with 56% and the regime accepted it.
The presidential republic · 1925–1970
The 1925 constitution gave Chile its first direct presidential election and a strong executive to go with it. What followed was the most competitive stretch in Latin America: a Popular Front in 1938, a Christian Democratic reform government in 1964, and in 1970 Salvador Allende elected on 36.6% and confirmed by Congress, which chose between the top two whenever nobody won a majority.
The Parliamentary Republic · 1891–1920
Balmaceda's quarrel with Congress ended in the civil war of 1891 and his suicide, and for the next thirty years Congress rather than the president ran the country: cabinets fell constantly and the presidency became an office of arbitration. The elections stayed indirect throughout.
The Conservative and Liberal republics · 1856–1886
Thirty years of decennial presidencies, still decided by electors, in which the Liberals slowly prised the church out of the state and Chile fought and won the War of the Pacific. Two of the elections on this page had a single candidate and were settled before polling day.
The early republic · 1826–1851
Congress chose the first two presidents outright; after that a college of electors did it, chosen parish by parish on a franchise limited to propertied literate men. Portales gave the republic a constitution in 1833 that let a president serve two five-year terms and effectively name his successor, and four presidents in a row did exactly that.
Parliamentary elections
Every parliamentary election since 1909, reported as the Chamber of Deputies. The gap between 1973 and 1989 is the dictatorship.
The binomial system and after · 1989–2025
The dictatorship left behind two-member districts that handed the second seat to the runner-up list unless the leader doubled its vote, an arrangement that froze the party system for twenty-four years. It was replaced in 2017 by proportional representation in larger districts, and the chamber has fragmented at every election since.
Republican Party 31Independent Democratic Union 18Frente Amplio 17
National Renewal 25Independent Democratic Union 23Republican Party 14
National Renewal 36Independent Democratic Union 30Socialist Party 19
Independent Democratic Union 29Christian Democratic Party 21National Renewal 19
Independent Democratic Union 37Christian Democratic Party 19Party for Democracy 18
Independent Democratic Union 33Party for Democracy 21Christian Democratic Party 20
Independent Democratic Union 31Christian Democratic Party 23Party for Democracy 20
Christian Democratic Party 13Independents 9Appointed senators 9others 73
The presidential republic · 1925–1973
Proportional representation from 1925, a Communist Party banned from 1948 to 1958, women voting in national elections from 1952, and a party system that settled into three blocs of roughly equal size. The last election of the period, in March 1973, gave Allende's coalition 43% and neither side a way out.
Christian Democratic Party 56National Party 33Radical Party 24
Christian Democratic Party 82Radical Party 20Communist Party 18
Radical Party 36Liberal Party 30United Conservative Party 21
Liberal Party 5Radical Party 4Traditionalist Conservative Party 4
Liberal Party 6Radical Party 5Social Christian Conservative Party 3
Radical Party 7Liberal Party 6Conservative Party 5
Radical Party 6Conservative Party 5Liberal Party 3
Radical Party 34Conservative Party 34Liberal Party 18
Congress in charge · 1909–1921
During the Parliamentary Republic the Chamber of Deputies made and unmade ministries, and the elections that filled it were organised by the parties that already held the machinery. Turnout figures of the period cover a small registered electorate.
Conservative Party 28Radical Party 27Liberal Democratic Party 21
Conservative Party 25Liberal Democratic Party 25Radical Party 24
Conservative 23Radical 19National 18
The long arc in charts
Hover any point for the exact figure.
Presidential turnout
Above 80% for most of the twentieth century, down to 46.7% in 2017 under voluntary voting, and back above 85% in 2025 when the fine returned.
The winner's decisive-round share
Indirect elections produced overwhelming margins on paper. Since 1989 the runoff has kept every winner between 51% and 62%.
Records & superlatives
Highest presidential turnout
99.1%
1861
Lowest presidential turnout
42.5%
1876
Narrowest win
29.1%
Francisco Antonio Pinto, 1829
Most seats won
1.238.540
Concertación, 1997
Years without a national vote
16
1973 to 1989; the 1988 plebiscite is the only entry between them
Indirect presidential elections
24
1826 to 1920, all decided by colleges of electors
How Chilean elections work
A president elected in two rounds
Since 1989 the president needs an absolute majority and all but two elections have gone to a runoff. The term is four years with no consecutive re-election, which is why Bachelet and Piñera each served twice with a gap in between.
A century of indirect election
From 1826 to 1920 Chileans did not elect presidents directly. Parishes chose electors and the electors chose the president, and the 1925 election was the first direct one. Where Congress had to settle a contest with no majority, as in 1970, that vote is shown here as the deciding round.
From the binomial system to proportional representation
The dictatorship's electoral law paired every district and gave the second seat to the runner-up list unless the leading list doubled its vote, which locked two coalitions in place for twenty-four years. Larger proportional districts replaced it in 2017 and the chamber has fragmented at every election since.
Voting that was compulsory, then was not, then was again
Registration became automatic and voting voluntary in 2012 and turnout fell to the forties. Compulsory voting returned for 2025 and 85% of the roll voted, so read the turnout line on this page as a story about the law rather than about enthusiasm.