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Chilean Electoral System: A moderate D’Hondt PR

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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

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Introduction

Between 1990 and 2013, there were more than 25 attempts in the Chilean legislature to put an end to the electoral system regulating the election of parliamentarians that had been established by Pinochet’s authoritarian regime. Known as the binomial system, it had been criticized on various grounds (Chasquetti 2017). On the one hand, its legitimacy was questioned: because it was established by Pinochet, it was considered to be an “authoritarian legacy” (Garretón 2006). On the other hand, critics argued that the distribution of electoral districts led to pronounced inequalities in the vote (malapportionment), that it generated a marked disproportionality in representation, that it excluded important groups from the assembly, and that it did not encourage interparty competition (Auth 2006). Public opinion polls showed that a large part of the population supported electoral reform (Segovia and Laroze 2009). Nevertheless, no reform attempt prospered.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of International Studies, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Ricardo Gamboa

  2. Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, UK

    Andrés Dockendorff

Authors
  1. Ricardo Gamboa
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  2. Andrés Dockendorff
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Correspondence to Ricardo Gamboa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    Ali Farazmand

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Gamboa, R., Dockendorff, A. (2019). Chilean Electoral System: A moderate D’Hondt PR. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3661-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3661-1

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