President Ricardo Lagos repeated his call for a major overhaul of the Chilean electoral system Monday just three months before he steps down as Chile’s head of state. The proposal would do away with a Pinochet-era election law that effectively ensures Chile’s right-wing an equal representation in the congress.
If a truly proportional election system were in place in Chile, the governing Concertación coalition would have fared significantly better in Sunday’s congressional races, with two additional senate and four additional deputy seats. Christian Democrat (DC) Sen. Andrés Zaldívar, for example, lost his senate seat even though he polled 2.3 percent more votes than Jovino Novoa of the rightist UDI party. This is because the ticket Zaldívar was a part of did not double the votes of the opposition’s two candidates.
Chile’s current election law stipulates that each legislative district send two senators and two deputies to Congress. This system favors large coalitions in that the congressional seats are divided between the two highest polling coalitions. Only if the leading coalition receives twice as many votes as the runner-up, can they send both of their candidates to Congress.
Thus a coalition with only 34 percent of the popular support, receives the same representation in Congress as a political coalition with 66 percent of the vote. The election law has had the effect of assuring equal representation in Congress for the right wing parties, as illustrated in the example above.
In order to change the election law Lagos will need 23 votes in the senate and 72 in the Chamber of Deputies. Even with Sunday’s gains, the Concertación is still short three senate votes and eight deputy votes.
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