ELECTORAL ENGINEERING IN CHILE - THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM AND LIMITED DEMOCRACY

On the eve of Chile's transition from military to elected government, the outgoing regime enacted an electoral engineering project intended to conserve the constitutional order it encoded in 1980. An analysis o f 1989 and 1993 general elections shows that the way votes are transla ted into seats favors, as intended, the second largest electoral block , the Chilean Right. This bias, along with the number of appointed sen ators and the special majorities required for constitutional amendment s, gives the Right a minority veto power on any reform initiative. Mor eover, the electoral system produces incentives for parties, candidate s and voters that enhances this balance of power. The role that the el ectoral system plays in Chile therefore consolidates a limited form of democracy, rather than a liberal one. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.