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Chamber of Deputies of Chile

NameChamber of Deputies of Chile
Native NameCámara de Diputados de la República de Chile
Session RoomCamara-diputados-chile.JPG
House TypeLower House
Leader1 TypePresident
Leader1Patricio Melero Abaroa
Party1(UDI)
Election1March 15, 2011
Leader2 TypeFirst Vice-President
Leader2Pedro Araya Guerrero
Party2(PRI)
Election2March 15, 2011
Leader3 TypeSecond Vice-President
Leader3Mario Bertolino Rendic
Party3(RN)
Election3March 15, 2011
Members120
Political Groups1Concert of Parties for Democracy
Coalition for Change
Last Election1December 13, 2009
Meeting PlaceChamber of Deputies
National Congress of Chile
Valparaíso
Chile

     Home | Legislature | Chamber of Deputies of Chile



The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile ( ) 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.


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