The Electoral Service (Servel) will propose holding the municipal and regional elections of this 2024 in two days, elections that are initially scheduled only for Sunday, October 27.
The initiative responds to the current electoral roll, which exceeds 15 million people who must vote in four ballots, to elect regional governors, regional councilors, mayors and councilors.
The institution anticipates that these two factors, added to the fact that voting will be mandatory, will complicate the holding of these elections in a single day, where massive traffic jams might occur in the premises.
In this regard, the Minister of the Segpres, Álvaro Elizalde, confirmed that “indeed, the Electoral Service has made a proposal to hold the next regional and local elections in two days. We already have previous experience of a similar nature, which was the regulations that were applied in the context of the pandemic. We are evaluating the background to make a decision on the matter. In any case, any modification of the regulatory framework would imply a legal change.”
The first time that elections were divided into two days was in 2021, within the framework of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the aim of promoting the voluntary participation of voters, as well as safeguarding the health safety of the process.
At that time, a law was enacted – following a constitutional reform – that allowed elections for constituents, regional governors, mayors and councilors to be held on May 15 and 16.
Different visions
At the local level, the RN deputy, Frank Sauerbaum, stated that “we must take charge of the new reality, because we are going to have 13 million Chileans voting, with mandatory voting, therefore, we must adjust to this new reality.” , considering that in the last election, which were only two options, on average, it took more than a minute for a person to enter and leave, therefore, the practice does not allow Chileans to vote in a single day ”.
Now, he clarified, “it must be done quickly to be able to have this adjustment, we will have to have the support of the military for the recount of the votes, and there will have to be a much greater deployment on the part of the people of Servel, but It is clearly a necessity, so that there really is participation and the law can be complied with, since we are all obliged to vote, it is no longer voluntary. Therefore, I am in favor of processing it as soon as possible, giving clarity to Chileans that they will be able to do it in two days. We might establish some order, for example, by alphabet, so that people do not concentrate on one of the two days, because if not, it will ultimately be the same problem.”
Meanwhile, the UDI representative, Marta Bravo, expressed that “beyond the good intentions that may exist, it does not seem right to innovate in this matter, with just over seven months left until the elections. Our country has been characterized by being an example in terms of elections, by always having a transparent and orderly process, and although in 2021 there was a process that was carried out in two days, the circumstances were completely different. The important thing now is to inform the population well regarding the positions that must be elected and that voting is mandatory.”
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