Affiliation:
1. Universidad de Talca, Chile; Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile
2. Universidad de Talca, Chile
Abstract
In 2020 Chile began a constitution-making process that will culminate in writing a new constitution through a 155-member constitutional convention. The Chilean party system is often described as one of the most institutionalised in Latin America, so the election results of the convention’s members were even more surprising. Of the 155 people elected, only 50 (32.2%) are party members, 41 (26.4%) are independents adopted as candidates by a party, 48 (30.9%) are independents outside a party, and 17 (10.9%) are representatives of indigenous peoples, all of them independents. Compared to proximate legislative elections, the number of independent candidates (ICs) and winners was substantially higher. We suggest that this increase was not only due to a political climate of growing distrust of parties but also to an electoral law that allowed ICs to form electoral apparentments with one another, thus combining their votes and increasing their chances of success, especially in low-income municipalities of the capital.
Funder
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico
Millennium Nucleus Center for the Study of Politics, Public Opinion and Media in Chile
Subject
Political Science and International Relations