The Electoral Service of Chile (), better known by its

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

Servel, is an autonomous constitutional agency responsible for overseeing electoral processes in Chile. It administers national elections and referendums, supervises political party operations, ensures compliance with campaign finance regulations, and maintains the electoral register and party registry. Servel is the highest administrative authority on electoral matters in the country. Servel's legal framework is established by a constitutional organic law, and its internal organization, staffing, and operational regulations are defined by statute. The agency is headquartered in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. Servel began operating on 1 October 1986, as the legal successor to the Electoral Registry Directorate (''Dirección del Registro Electoral''). Judicial oversight of elections remains under the jurisdiction of the

Election Certification Tribunal The Election Certification Tribunal () is a specialized jurisdictional body in Chile with its headquarters in Santiago. It serves as the topmost authority of electoral justice and is responsible for supervising the overall scrutiny and validation ...

(''Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones'') and the Regional Electoral Tribunals. A constitutional reform in 2015 granted Servel full autonomy. Until that year, Servel was overseen by the

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via the

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History

The origins of Chile's electoral administration date back to 1925, with the creation of the Electoral Registry Conservator (''Conservador del Registro Electoral'') through Decree Law No. 343. The office began registering voters on 15 April 1925. Decree Law No. 623, issued in October that year, defined the agency's initial staffing at six employees. Ramón Zañartu Eguiguren was appointed the first conservator. Initially, the office compiled registration records from local boards. Its responsibilities later expanded to include cleaning and updating voter rolls, particularly after the passage of Law No. 4554 in 1929. The Electoral Registry Conservator was replaced by the Electoral Registry Directorate on 7 April 1931, under the terms of Decree with Force of Law No. 82, based on Law No. 4763. The Directorate operated until 1986 and was based in several locations over time, including offices in the

National Congress National Congress is a term used in the names of various political parties and legislatures. Political parties *Ethiopia: Oromo National Congress, original name of the Oromo People's Congress *Guyana: People's National Congress Reform *India: **In ...

building and, from 1957 to 1977, the former Mortgage Credit Fund building (now the headquarters of the

Constitutional Court of Chile The Constitutional Court of Chile (''Tribunal Constitucional de Chile'' in Spanish) is Chile's constitutional court, constitutional tribunal. It is not part of the judicial branch and is functionally independent of the National Congress of Chile, ...

). Following the 1973 military coup, allegations of

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

in previous elections led to a loss of confidence in the electoral system. In July 1974, the existing electoral rolls were destroyed, resulting in the loss of voter data from before 1973. Servel was formally established by Law No. 18.556, published on 1 October 1986. It was housed at 611 Esmeralda Street in central Santiago, in a 1934

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

building designed by architects Fernando de la Cruz and Hernán Rojas Santa María. Originally occupying only part of the building, Servel expanded to occupy the entire premises in January 1987. In 2012, Law No. 20.568 introduced automatic voter registration and voluntary voting, and created a new Governing Council to oversee Servel. In 2015, Law No. 20.860 amended the Constitution to grant Servel full constitutional autonomy. In June 2018, Servel's Citizen Services Unit began developing a Historical Archive. The project identified documents dating from 1925 to 1973 and established the ''Juan Ignacio García Collection'', composed of the personal archives of a former Servel director. Additional electoral protocol documents were added to the collection in 2019.

Organization

Since 2012, Servel has been governed by a Governing Council and a National Director. The Council is responsible for setting overall policy, while the Director handles day-to-day administration. Until 2015, Servel reported to the

through the

. The Governing Council consists of five members appointed by the President of the Republic, with the approval of two-thirds of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The President of the Council is designated by a majority vote of the Council for a four-year term. The President communicates the Council's decisions to the National Director, the

, and the Regional Electoral Courts. The National Director serves as the agency's legal representative and chief executive.

Current Governing Council

* Pamela Figueroa Rubio – President * Andrés Tagle Domínguez – Member * María Cristina Escudero Illanes – Member * David Huina Valenzuela – Member * Alfredo Joignant Rondón – Member

Internal structure

The Electoral Service is administratively divided into three sub-directorates and territorially into 16 regional directorates: * Sub-directorate of Voter Registration, Enrollments, and Electoral Events * Sub-directorate of Political Parties * Sub-directorate of Campaign Spending and Electoral Financing Oversight * Regional Directorates

Former authorities

Presidents of the Governing Council

National Directors

Until January 2012, the National Director held sole executive authority over Servel.

References

{{reflist

External links

Servel's official website
(in Spanish) Politics of Chile Election law Elections in Chile 1986 establishments in Chile