From an administrative point of view, Chile is divided into 13 regions and these in turn are divided into 40 provinces and the provinces divided into municipalities. Santiago de Chile, the capital has a population of 4,385,000 residents, the other large cities are Concepción, Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Talcahuano, Antofagasta, Temuco and Punta Arenas.
The Chilean government was based on the Constitution of 1925, where the legislative power was adjudicated by a National Assembly of two Chambers. The Chamber of Deputies consisted of 120 members, and the Senate, 47 senators, all elected by suffrage. The regions were under the authority of the governors and both these and those responsible for the provinces were appointed by the president.
After the coup of 1973, political activity was suspended and subsequently banned in 1977. Subsequently, a new Constitution known as the 1980 Constitution was approved, which came into force in 1989 where the executive power is exercised by the president who is elected by popular elections for a period of 4 years and is supported by a presidential cabinet.
Political parties were not legalized again until 1987. In the legislative elections of 1993, the center-left parties (the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Party and the Party for Democracy), regrouped within the National Concertation for Democracy, won.
Territorial organization
In October 1978, Chile was politically divided into thirteen regions, subdivided into provinces and these into communes in October 1979. As of 2012, the country had 15 regions, 54 provinces and 346 communes in total.
Each of the regions has a Roman number originally assigned according to their order from north to south, except for the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, established later. With the creation of two new regions in April 2007, the numbering lost that meaning. Due to this, there is a bill in process that seeks to eliminate this type of denomination.
| No. | Region | Capital | Surface |
| XV | Arica and Parinacota | Arica | 16 873.3 km 2 |
| I | Tarapacá | Iquique | 42 225.8 km 2 |
| II | Antofagasta | Antofagasta | 126 049.1 km 2 |
| III | Atacama | Copiapo | 75 176.2 km 2 |
| IV | Coquimbo | La Serena | 40 579.9 km 2 |
| V | Valparaiso | Valparaiso | 16 396.1 km 2 |
| RM | Metropolitan of Santiago | Santiago | 15 403.2 km 2 |
| SAW | Liberator General Bernardo O’Higgins | Rancagua | 16 387.0 km 2 |
| VII | Maule | Talca | 30 296.1 km 2 |
| VIII | Bio bio region | Conception | 37 068.7 km 2 |
| IX | The Araucanía | Temuco | 31 842.3 km 2 |
| XIV | The rivers | Valdivia | 18 429.5 km 2 |
| X | The lakes | Montt port | 48 583.6 km 2 |
| XI | General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo | Coyhaique | 108 494.4 km 2 |
| XII | Magellan and Chilean Antarctica | Punta Arenas | 132 297.2 km 2 |