At stake in this election:

• 19 seats in the Senate (Senado)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Sebastian PIÑERA
• Head of Government: President Sebastian PIÑERA
• Assembly: Chile has a bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) consisting of the Senate (Senado) with 38 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados) with 120 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• In the Senate (Senado) 38 members are elected through a closed party-list majority system to serve 8-year terms. Chile uses a binomial closed-list system, with 19 two-member districts in the Senate. Each electoral bloc (coalition or independent party) proposes 2 candidates per district. If the bloc that achieves a plurality obtains more than twice as many votes as the runner-up, it is awarded both seats. Otherwise, 1 seat is awarded to the candidate with the most votes in the most successful bloc, and 1 is awarded to the candidate with the most votes in the runner-up bloc. Half of the Senate stands for re-election every 4 years.

Election Notes:

• The last Senate (Senado) election was held on December 13, 2009

Main parties in the electoral race:

• New Majority / Nueva Mayoria
• Coalition Members: Broad Social Movement / Movimiento Amplio Social (MAS), Christian Democratic Party / Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC), Citizen Left / Izquierda Ciudadana (IC), Communist Party / Partido Comunista (PCCh), Party for Democracy / Partido por la Democracia (PPD), Social Democrat Radical Party / Partido Radical Socialdemócrata (PRS), and the Socialist Party / Partido Socialist (PS).
• Leader: Michelle BACHELET
• Seats won in last election: N/A[i]
• Alliance / Alianza
• Coalition Members: National Renewal / Renovación Nacional (RN) and Independent Democratic Union / Unión Democrática Independiente (UDI).
• Leader: Evelyn MATTHEI
• Seats won in last election: N/A[ii]
• Chile Changes, If You Want It / Si tú quires, Chile Cambia
• Coalition Members: Progressive Party / Partido Progresista (PP) and Liberal Party / Partido Liberal (PL).
• Leader: Marco ENRÍQUEZ-OMINAMI
• Seats won in last election: 0[iii]
• Humanist Party / Partido Humanista
• Leader: Marcel CLAUDE
• Seats won in last election: 0
• New Constitution for Chile / Nueva Constitución para Chile
• Coalition Members: Green Ecologist Party / Partido Ecologista Verde and Equality Party / Partido Igualdad
• Leader: Roxana MIRANDA and Alfredo SFEIR
• Seats won in last election: 0
• Regionalist Party of the Independents /  Partido Regionalista de los Independientes
• Leader: Ricardo ISRAEL
• Seats won in last election: 0
• Independents
• Seats won in last election: 0

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 17,216,945 (July 2013 est.)
• Registered Voters: 13,388,643 (January 2012)[iv]

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 8,906,407 (2013)

·         Is Chile a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Chile ratified CEDAW: Yes (7 December 1989)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: No

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 19 (Chamber of Deputies); 4 (Senate) (following 2013 parliamentary election)

·         Human Development Index Position: 42 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Chile a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Chile ratified CRPD: Yes (29 July 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 2,582,541 (est.)