15 regions (regiones, singular - region); Aisen del General Carlos Ibanez del Campo, Antofagasta, Araucania, Arica y Parinacota, Atacama, Biobio, Coquimbo, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Los Lagos, Los Rios, Magallanes y de la Antartica Chilena, Maule, Region Metropolitana (Santiago), Tarapaca, Valparaiso.
Population:
16,454,143 (July 2008 est.)
Independence :
18 September 1810 (from Spain)
Constitution:
11 September 1980, effective 11 March 1981; amended 1989, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2005.
President:
Michelle BACHELET Jeria (since 11 March 2006)
Elections :
11 December 2005, with runoff election held 15 January 2006 (next to be held in December 2009)
Political Parties and Leaders:
Alliance for Chile (Alianza) or APC (including National Renewal or RN [Carlos LARRAIN Pena] and Independent Democratic Union or UDI [Hernan LARRAIN Fernandez]); Coalition of Parties for Democracy (Concertacion) or CPD (including Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Soledad ALVEAR], Socialist Party or PS [Camilo ESCALONA Medina], Party for Democracy or PPD [Sergio BITAR Chacra], Radical Social Democratic Party or PRSD [Jose Antonio GOMEZ Urrutia]); Communist Party or PC [Guillermo TEILLIER]; Humanist Party [Marilen CABRERA Olmos]
Judicial Branch:
Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges are appointed by the president and ratified by the Senate from lists of candidates provided by the court itself; the president of the Supreme Court is elected every three years by the 20-member court); Constitutional Tribunal
American Samoa (US)
Bougainville (PNG)
Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands (US)
Cook Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji
Guam
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Nauru
New Caledonia (France)
Niue
Norfolk Island (Australia)
Palau
West Papua (Indonesia)
Papua New Guinea
Pitcairn Island
Rapa Nui (Chile)
Samoa
Solomon Islands
French Polynesia (France)
Timor Leste
Tokelau (New Zealand)
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
Wallis & Futuna (France)
