Long-form name: Republic of Chile

Type: republic

Capital: Santiago

Administrative divisions: 13 regions (regiones, singular--region); Aisen del General Carlos Ibanez del Campo, Antofagasta, Araucania, Atacama, Biobio, Coquimbo, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Los Lagos, Magallanes y Antartica Chilena, Maule, Region Metropolitana, Tarapaca, Valparaiso

Independence: 18 September 1810 (from Spain)

Constitution: 11 September 1980, effective 11 March 1981; provides for continued rule of current regime until March 1990, with direct presidential and congressional elections scheduled for 14 December 1989

Legal system: based on Code of 1857 derived from Spanish law and subsequent codes influenced by French and Austrian law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence Day, 18 September (1810)

Branches: four-man Military Junta exercises constituent and legislative powers and has delegated executive powers to president; new National Congress (Senate, House of Representatives) will take office 11 March 1990; civilian judiciary has continued to operate since 1973 coup

Leaders: @m5Chief of State and Head of Government--President (Gen.) Augusto PINOCHET Ugarte (since September 1973); other junta members--(Navy) Adm. Jose Toribio MERINO Castro (since September 1973), (Air Force) Gen. Fernando MATTHEI Aubel (since July 1978), (Army) Lt. Gen. Santiago SINCLAIR Oyaneder (since November 1988), (Police) Gen. Rodolfo STANGE Oelckers (since August 1985)

Suffrage: universal over age 18

Elections: none; on 5 October 1988, under a constitutionally mandated presidential plebiscite, the voters rejected a further eight-year term for Gen. Augusto Pinochet by 54.7% to 43%; under the terms of the Constitution Gen. Pinochet will leave office on 11 March 1990; presidential and congressional elections scheduled for 14 December 1989

Political parties and leaders: until early 1987 all political parties were officially recessed or outlawed but allowed to function on a very limited basis; a law allowing political parties to acquire legal status was approved by the Junta and enacted in March 1987; 12 parties acquired legal status and others are in the process of doing so; National Renovation (RN), Sergio Jarpa, president; Radical Party (PR), Enrique Silva Cimma; Humanist Party, Tomas Hirsh; Social Democratic Party (PSD), Eugenio Velasco; Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Patricio Aylwin; Party for Democracy, Ricardo Lagos; Socialist Party--Nunez faction, Ricardo Nunez; the PR, PSD, PDC, Republican Right, and Nunez faction of the Socialist Party formed the Democratic Alliance (AD) in 1983, but AD replaced by 16-party broad-based coalition during campaign for the plebiscite; Movement of United Popular Action (MAPU), Victor Barrueto; Christian Left (IC), Luis Maira; Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), Luis Corvalan Leppe; Socialist Party--Almeyda faction (PSCh/Alm), Clodomiro Almeyda; Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) is splintered, no single leader; several leftist and far left parties formed a new coalition in November 1988 with Luis Maira as president

Voting strength: (1970 presidential election) 36.6% Popular Unity coalition, 35.3% conservative independent, 28.1% Christian Democrat; (1973 congressional election) 56% Democratic Confederation (PDC and PN), 44% Popular Unity coalition (socialists and Communists)

Communists: 120,000 when PCCh was legal in 1973; 50,000 (est.) active militants

Other political or pressure groups: revitalized university student federations at all major universities dominated by opposition political groups; labor--United Labor Central (CUT) includes trade unionists from the country's five largest labor confederations; Roman Catholic Church

Member of: CCC, CIPEC, ECOSOC, FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, ITU, LAIA, OAS, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Octavio ERRAZURIZ; Chancery at 1732 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20036; telephone (202) 785-1746; there are Chilean Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco; US--Ambassador Charles A. GILLESPIE, Jr.; Embassy at Codina Building, 1343 Agustinas, Santiago (mailing address is APO Miami 34033); telephone �56� (2) 710133 or 710190, 710326, 710375

Flag: two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red; there is a blue square the same height as the white band at the hoist-side end of the white band; the square bears a white five-pointed star in the center; design was based on the US flag

NOTE: The information regarding Chile on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Chile Government 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Chile Government 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.