Transforming Votes into Seats: Electoral Laws in Chile, 1833-2004
Keywords:
electoral laws, political party systems, electoral engineering, Chilean politics, electoral simulationsAbstract
This paper discusses the electoral rules used in Chile since 1833, highlighting how difficultit was to change them after first adopted. It is then analized the current system,emphasizing its strengths and weaknesses. It is argued that the current system can be bestunderstood as an insurance against an electoral defeat since it imposes high thresholds on aparty that seeks to transform its electoral majority into a commanding majority of seatsin the legislature. It is shown that the Concertacin has found it difficult to transform itselectoral majority into a majority control of the legislature. Using electoral simulations, itis shown that the conservative coalition (given its share of votes) gets a larger share ofseats with the current system than with any other alternative district magnitude.
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