Chamber of Deputies of Chile
| Chamber of Deputies of Chile Cámara de Diputados de la República de Chile |
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|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | Lower House |
| Leadership | |
| President | Patricio Melero Abaroa, (UDI) since March 15, 2011 |
| First Vice-President | Pedro Araya Guerrero, (PRI) since March 15, 2011 |
| Second Vice-President | Mario Bertolino Rendic, (RN) since March 15, 2011 |
| Members | 120 |
| Political groups | Concert of Parties for Democracy Coalition for Change |
| Elections | |
| Last election | December 13, 2009 |
| Meeting place | |
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| Chamber of Deputies National Congress of Chile Valparaíso Chile |
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| Website | |
| http://www.camara.cl |
The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile (Spanish: Cámara de Diputados) is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution.
It comprises 120 deputies, who are elected to four-year terms, by direct universal suffrage, from 60 two-member electoral districts. Deputies must: be aged at least 21; not be disqualified from voting; have finished secondary school or its equivalent; and have lived in the corresponding electoral district for at least two years prior to the election.
Chile's congressional elections are governed by a unique binomial system that rewards coalition slates. Each coalition can run two candidates for each electoral district's two Chamber seats. Typically, the two largest coalitions in a district divide the seats, one each, among themselves. Only if the leading coalition ticket out-polls the second-place coalition by a margin of more than two-to-one does the winning coalition gain both seats.
The Chamber of Deputies meets in Chile's National Congress located in the port city of Valparaíso, some 120 km west of the capital, Santiago. The Congress building in Valparaíso replaced the old National Congress, located in downtown Santiago, in 1990.
Contents
Political composition (2010-2014)
| Affiliation | Members | % |
|---|---|---|
| Coalition for Change (coalition) | 58 | 48.33 |
| Independent Democrat Union | 37 | 30.83 |
| National Renewal | 18 | 15.00 |
| Independent | 2 | 2.50 |
| Concertación (coalition) | 54 | 45.00 |
| Christian Democrat Party | 19 | 15.83 |
| Party for Democracy | 18 | 15.00 |
| Socialist Party | 11 | 9.17 |
| Social Democrat Radical Party | 5 | 4.17 |
| Independent | 1 | 0.83 |
| Parties not in coalition | 6 | 5.00 |
| Communist Party | 3 | 2.50 |
| Regionalist Party of the Independent | 3 | 2.50 |
| Independent deputies | 2 | 1.67 |
| Total | 120 | 100.00 |
| Chile |
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Deputies (2006-2010)
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- ^ Elected as PAR member. She became a PRI member in July 2006, after the fusion of the PAR and ANI parties. She quit the PRI in July 2007.
- ^ Elected as PDC, but quit the party in January 2008. Joined the PRI in or prior to July 2009.
- ^ Elected as PDC, but quit the party in January 2008. Joined the PRI later that year.
- ^ Selected by his party as successor to Juan Bustos Ramírez, who died during his term.
- ^ Elected as PPD, but quit the party in August 2006.
- ^ Elected as Alliance for Chile independent after he quit RN over differences with then presidential candidate Sebastián Piñera. He returned to the party in November 2008.[1]
- ^ Selected by his party to replace Carolina Tohá Morales, who accepted a position as minister in the executive on March 12, 2009. He was sworn in on March 19, 2009.
- ^ Elected as Concertación independent.
- ^ Elected as PPD, but quit the party in January 2007 and joined ChileFirst. In March 2009 he quit ChileFirst, after the party leadership said it was leaning towards supporting Sebastián Piñera as candidate for President.
- ^ Selected by her party to replace the late Pedro Pablo Álvarez-Salamanca Büchi. She was sworn in on October 2, 2008.
- ^ Elected as Concertación independent. Then joined the DC, but quit the party in January 2008. Joined the PRI later that year.
- ^ Elected as PS, but quit the party in June 2009 to run for President as independent.
- ^ Elected as RN, but quit the party in June 2009 amid corruption charges.
See also
- List of Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile