What To Know About the Results of Chile’s 2024 Municipal and Regional Elections

Among the night’s big winners was Let’s Go Chile (Chile Vamos), a coalition of right and center-right parties, who won 122 out of the 345 mayoral races. Not only was that the most of the night, but it was a marked increase from the 2021 elections that saw them win just 87.  

On the contrary, With You, A Better Chile (Contigo Chile Mejor), the left and center-left coalition which includes President Gabriel Boric’s Broad Front party, lost ground. They captured 111 municipalities, down from 150 in 2021. Independents stayed almost the same with 103 independent mayors winning, versus 105 in 2021.

One of the most important wins for the opposition was Mario Desbordes from the National Renovation Party (part of Let’s Go Chile) who triumphed in the mayoral race in Santiago Centro, the third most populated commune in Chile and the central commune of the Santiago province. Desbordes defeated the current mayor Irací Hassler of the Communist Party (part of With You, A Better Chile).

Although With You, A Better Chile lost this municipality, their candidate, Tomás Vodanovic, won reelection in Maipú, the second most populated commune in the country. The candidate had a landslide victory of 70 percent of the votes. Puente Alto, the most populated commune, saw the victory of independent candidate Matías Toledo. 

These newly elected mayors will enter office on December 6, 2024.

These municipal and regional elections were the first of their type to be mandatory, after a constitutional reform in 2022 established that eligible voters must cast ballots in all general elections and plebiscites.

Over 13.1 million Chileans voted over the two days polls were open, representing almost 85 percent of the 15.4 million who were eligible to vote. In 2021, before these elections became mandatory, the turnout was 43 percent. 

Eligible citizens who did not vote will face a fine of approximately 33,000 Chilean pesos, around $35.

Out of the 16 regional governor races, candidates in only five surpassed the 40 percent of votes necessary to become elected in the first round. The other 11 will go on to compete in a second round on November 24.

The five regional governors elected were those of the regions of Aysén, Los Ríos, Magallane, Ñuble, and Tarapacá, including three winners from a larger coalition that includes With You, A Better Chile and one from Let’s Go Chile.