Chile: Electoral Service Announces New Composition of Congress

After concluding the scrutiny of 99 percent of the voting tables enabled in the general elections of this Sunday in Chile, the Electoral Service (Servel) informed on Monday the final composition of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

In addition to going to the polls to elect the president and regional councilors, Chileans across the country voted for the 155 seats for deputies.

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In the case of the Upper House, citizens from nine regions voted to renew 27 of the 43 senators.

According to Chilean media citing Servel, the ruling alliance Chile Podemos Más obtained 53 seats for deputies, among which Renovación Nacional and Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI) stand out with 25 and 23 seats, respectively.

They were followed by the coalition Apruebo Dignidad and Nuevo Pacto Social, each with 37 seats. Regarding the former, 12 seats correspond to the Communist Party, 9 to Convergencia Social and 8 to Comunes as the most voted-for blocs.

As for the New Social Pact, the Socialist Party (13), the Christian Democracy (8) and the Party for Democracy (PPD, with 7) stand out within that coalition. The deputies will take office in March 2022 and their term of office will end in 2026.

Chileans also went to vote to elect their new representatives in the Senate, which as of next March will have 50 members.

As mentioned, they did so in nine regions: Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Metropolitan, O'Higgins, Biobío, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, Ñuble and Magallanes. Three representatives were elected in these regions, except in the last two constituencies, where two senators were elected.

Chile Podemos Más obtained 12 seats this Sunday, which added to the 12 it already had (in the seven regions of the country that did not renew senators), now 24 total.

The second force is now Nuevo Pacto Social, with 18 seats (this Sunday it added 8 to that total), and in third place is Apruebo Dignidad, which only had one senator and now adds another 4.

The number of senators that were renewed is completed by the Republican Party (obtained one seat) and two independent candidates.

Among the independents, local media highlight the triumph as senator for the Metropolitan Region of Fabiola Campillai, victim of police violence during the social outburst of 2019, when she lost her eyes due to a gunshot. She obtained 350,809 votes, a matter that caused surprise.

Press reports and experts point out that with these elections the opposition lost the majority it had in both Chambers, assuring that there has been a shift to the right. They also highlight the return of the Communist Party to the Senate.

On the other hand, they value that the elections gave way to new faces and marked another setback for the traditional parties, as happened when the Constitutional Convention was elected.