1811 Chilean parliamentary election

The 1811 Chilean parliamentary election was held in the Kingdom of Chile between January and 6 May 1811 to elect deputies to the First National Congress of Chile, the first national legislative body established in Chile. The election took place while Chile remained formally within the Spanish Empire and while the legitimacy of Ferdinand VII was still officially recognized by the revolutionary government established in 1810.

The elections were conducted in the 25 administrative districts, or partidos, into which Chile was then divided. Each district elected between one and six deputies, with the representation of Santiago increased shortly before the elections. The electoral regulations limited voting to male residents over the age of 25 who met specified requirements of residence and social standing. The process was delayed in Santiago by the Mutiny of Figueroa, a royalist uprising on 1 April, and the Santiago election was ultimately held on 6 May.

The resulting Congress contained representatives of three broad political tendencies: royalists, who defended continued allegiance to the Spanish monarchy; moderates, who favored greater local autonomy and reform while initially maintaining the formal connection with Spain; and exalted patriots, who advocated more extensive political change and increasingly favored independence. Contemporary and later sources differ in their classification of individual deputies, and the three groups were not political parties in the modern sense.

The first Congress was installed in Santiago on 4 July 1811. Official congressional sources describe its composition as 21 moderates, 10 royalists, and 9 exalted patriots, with 41 elected members overall in the Congress. It functioned as a unicameral legislature until its dissolution by José Miguel Carrera on 2 December 1811.

Background

The election originated in the political crisis produced by the Peninsular War and the captivity of Ferdinand VII. Following the establishment of the First Government Junta on 18 September 1810, the authorities began preparing rules for the election of a representative congress. The Cabildo of Santiago discussed an initial electoral project on 13 October 1810, and a formal electoral regulation was issued on 15 December. The regulation conceived the Congress as a body representing the inhabitants of the kingdom and divided representation among its 25 districts.

The electoral system was influenced by the representative institutions established in Spain during the crisis of the monarchy. The regulations specified that deputies could be inhabitants of the district or residents of the kingdom who were regarded by their fellow citizens as patriotic, prudent, and capable. Candidates had to be at least 25 years old and of good reputation; secular clergy could also be elected.

The electorate was considerably restricted by contemporary standards. Electors had to be residents over 25 years old, have an established household, and possess a recognized social standing in their district. Foreigners, bankrupt persons, non-residents, persons facing criminal proceedings, persons who had received infamous punishments, and debtors to the royal treasury were excluded from voting.

The original allocation of seats was subsequently modified. On 8 January 1811, the number of representatives assigned to Santiago was increased relative to the provinces. In total, the 25 districts elected representatives ranging from one to six deputies, producing the membership of the First National Congress.

Election

Elections took place separately in the various district capitals. Some districts held their elections before Santiago, and the process extended over several months. The final major election was that of Santiago, held on 6 May 1811. Approximately 700 people voted, out of a total population estimated at about 200,000 in the 1813 census.

The Santiago election was initially expected to take place earlier, but the Mutiny of Figueroa on 1 April, an uprising associated with opposition to the revolutionary changes, temporarily disrupted the political process. After the uprising was suppressed, the election was held on 6 May.

The election results reflected the political divisions of the period. The moderates obtained the largest bloc, while royalists retained substantial representation, particularly in some districts of the south. Exalted patriots were particularly successful in several districts of the Concepción region and elsewhere in the south.

Results

Because the political groups were not legally constituted parties, classifications of individual deputies vary among historians and sources. The following comparative table illustrates some of the different classifications.

The Senate of Chile and the Chamber of Deputies use a classification of 21 moderates, 10 royalists, and 9 exalted patriots among the members of the first Congress. The discrepancy between this classification and other historical counts reflects the difficulty of assigning modern political categories to a body whose members did not belong to formal political parties.

Results by district

Copiapó

Copiapó elected one deputy on 3 February 1811. Juan José de Echeverría Ahumada was elected with 24 of the 38 votes recorded.

Santiago

Santiago elected twelve deputies. The election took place on 6 May 1811, after the delay caused by the Mutiny of Figueroa. The official certification recorded the following votes for the successful candidates:

Concepción

Concepción elected its three deputies in separate voting processes. The first was Andrés del Alcázar, Count of La Marquina, who had already been elected before the voting of 26 February 1811. The other two seats were decided in separate ballots on 26 February.

Second seat

Third seat

Deputies

The following list is based primarily on the parliamentary records and biographical registers of the Library of the National Congress of Chile, supplemented by historical works by Virgilio Figueroa and Luis Valencia Avaria.

First National Congress

The First National Congress was installed on 4 July 1811 in the former Royal Audience building in Santiago, now the National Historical Museum. It was unicameral and consisted of elected deputies and their alternates. Juan Antonio Ovalle was elected its first president, with Martín Calvo Encalada as vice president.

The Congress became the principal representative institution in Chile and assumed legislative and constituent functions while continuing formally to operate within the political framework of the Spanish monarchy. Its members included figures who would later become prominent in the independence movement, including Bernardo O'Higgins and Manuel de Salas.

The Congress also established an executive authority composed of three members, reflecting the difficulty of concentrating executive and legislative functions in the same body. On 14 August it approved the Regulation for the Arrangement of a Provisional Executive Authority of Chile, which assigned executive functions to a three-member body while reserving important powers to Congress.

Among the principal measures enacted by the Congress were the freedom of wombs law, which declared children born to enslaved women free; the abolition of parish fees; measures concerning primary education; the establishment of the Instituto Nacional; and legislation concerning freedom of the press. The Congress also enacted measures concerning Indigenous affairs and the organization of the judiciary.

The Congress was affected by growing conflicts among the political factions and between the Santiago leadership and provincial representatives. On 4 September 1811, José Miguel Carrera and his brothers carried out a military coup that imposed changes in the composition of the Congress and strengthened the position of the more radical patriot faction.

The Congress continued to meet after the September coup, but the political conflict intensified. On 2 December 1811, Carrera forced the Congress to cease its sessions and transferred legislative authority to the executive. The body was subsequently considered suspended rather than permanently abolished by some of its members. It had met for nearly five months and held 55 sessions.

Presidents of the First National Congress

The official congressional records list the successive presiding boards of the First National Congress. Juan Antonio Ovalle served as its first president, followed by Martín Calvo Encalada, Manuel Pérez Cotapos, Juan Cerdán, Joaquín Larraín Salas, and Joaquín Echeverría.

Bibliography