election results: Michelle BACHELET Jeria elected president; percent of vote - Michelle BACHELET Jeria 53.5%; Sebastian PINERA Echenique 46.5%
Legislative branch:
bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of the Senate or Senado (38 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve eight-year terms; one-half elected every four years) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (120 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 11 December 2005 (next to be held in December 2009); Chamber of Deputies - last held 11 December 2005 (next to be held in December 2009)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - CPD 20 (PDC 6, PS 8, PPD 3, PRSD 3), APC 17 (UDI 9, RN 8), independent 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - CPD 65 (PDC 21, PPD 22, PS 15, PRSD 7), APC 54 (UDI 34, RN 20), independent 1; note - as of 8 January 2008: Senate - seats by party - CPD 18, (PDC 5, PS 8, PPD 2, PRSD 3), APC 16 (UDI 9, RN 7), independent 4; Chamber of Deputies - seats by party - CPD 57 (PDC 16, PPD 19, PS 15, PRSD 7), APC 53 (UDI 33, RN 20), independent 10.
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges are appointed by the president and ratified by the Senate from lists of candidates provided by the court itself; the president of the Supreme Court is elected every three years by the 20-member court); Constitutional Tribunal (eight-members - two each from the Senate, Chamber of Deputies, Supreme Court, and National Security Council - review the constitutionality of laws approved by Congress)
Political parties and leaders:
Alliance for Chile (Alianza) or APC (including National Renewal or
RN [Carlos LARRAIN Pena] and Independent Democratic Union or UDI
[Juan Antonio COLOMA Correa]); Coalition of Parties for Democracy
(Concertacion) or CPD (including Christian Democratic Party or PDC
[Juan Carlos LATORRE Carmona], Socialist Party or PS [Camilo
ESCALONA Medina], Party for Democracy or PPD [Pepe AUTH Stewart],
and Radical Social Democratic Party or PRSD [Jose Antonio GOMEZ
Urrutia]); Communist Party or PC [Guillermo TEILLIER del Valle];
Humanist Party [Marilen CABRERA Olmos]
Political pressure groups and leaders: