Over 14.9M Chileans Are Called to the Polls on Election Days

Chileans are called to head to the polls this Saturday to elect governors, mayors, councilors, and members of the Constituent Convention (CC) in charge of drafting a new Constitution. 

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The Electoral Service set up 46,087 polling stations scheduled to open at 08:00 am nationwide. The subnational elections will also take place on Sunday.

Over 14.9 million qualified voters will have to choose 16 governors, 345 mayors, 2,252 councilmen, and 155 members of the CC among 16,730 candidates.

Electors will receive four ballots, and only one vote must be cast for each of them. As in the 2017 parliamentary election, the D'Hondt system will be applied to count the votes.

People must observe COVID-19 health regulations to attend the polling centers, such as face masks' wearing, physical distance, and the use of their blue paste pencil and alcohol gel.

Subnational elections, which were postponed in April, take place amid a deep political, economic and social crisis aggravated by the pandemic in this Andean country.

CC members' elections respond to the plebiscite held on October 25 last year when almost 80 percent of Chileans approved to change the Constitution inherited from Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990).

The elections mark a milestone in Chile's history since it will be the first time that a Constitution would be written by constituents elected on a parity basis, in equal numbers of men and women, and with the representation of the country's ten Indigenous people groups.