Parliamentary elections were held in Chile on 29 and 30 March 1840, during the presidency of José Joaquín Prieto. They were the final parliamentary elections of Prieto's administration and produced a decisive victory for the government. Of the 56 deputies elected, only nine were identified as opposition representatives, while all eight senators elected, including one replacement for the deceased senator Diego Portales, were government supporters.
Background
The election took place during the conservative political order established after the Chilean Civil War of 1829–1830 and under the Constitution of 1833. Prieto had been president since 1831 and was approaching the end of his second consecutive five-year term. The government exercised strong influence over Congress and the electoral process, while opposition groups associated with the former pipiolo movement continued to challenge the conservative establishment.
The election was held amid an increasingly organized opposition campaign. In January 1840, a group of prominent opposition figures established the Sociedad Patriótica with electoral objectives. Among its members were José Miguel Infante, Francisco Ruiz-Tagle, Eugenio de Matta, Diego José Benavente, Ventura Blanco Encalada, Joaquín Campino, and Ramón Errázuriz. The organization sought to challenge the government's electoral influence but obtained only limited representation in the resulting Chamber.
The government also faced criticism for its use of extraordinary powers. On 11 February 1840, Prieto declared the province of Santiago in a state of siege, citing an alleged internal conspiracy and disturbances. The decree formally maintained the existing electoral laws and procedures, but the measure gave the government additional powers in the period immediately preceding the election.
Electoral system
The Constitution of 1833 established a restricted, censitary electoral system. Active suffrage was limited to Chilean men who met age and literacy requirements and possessed specified property, capital, occupation, income, or usufruct qualifications. Voters also had to be registered in the electoral register of their municipality and possess a qualification certificate issued at least three months before the election.
The Chamber of Deputies was elected by direct vote, with deputies serving three-year terms. The original Constitution provided for one deputy for every 20,000 inhabitants, or a fraction exceeding 10,000.
The Senate consisted of 20 members elected indirectly through a single national electoral college. Senators served nine-year terms and were renewed by thirds, with seven senators elected in each of the first two triennial renewals and six in the third. Vacancies caused by the death or incapacity of a senator were filled at the next renewal for the remainder of the original term.
In 1840, seven regular Senate seats were due for renewal. An additional election was held to replace Diego Portales, who had died in 1837, bringing the number of senators elected in the process to eight.
Campaign and voting
The 1840 election was one of the more competitive parliamentary contests of the early conservative period, despite the government's substantial institutional advantages. J. Samuel Valenzuela's reconstruction of electoral returns records 38 deputy districts, of which 31 had more candidates than available seats. Nine seats were won by opposition candidates, while five districts had results that qualified as close contests under his methodology.
Nevertheless, the government retained powerful mechanisms for influencing electoral outcomes. Contemporary and later accounts describe the use of the Guardia Cívica, or civic militia, whose members' votes could be influenced by their commanders. A contemporary opposition account specifically alleged that in Santiago the civic battalions were present at polling places and that voting by militiamen was conducted in the presence of officers considered loyal to the government.
The election also generated a number of disputes over the validity of individual returns. In Quillota, for example, the Chamber examined allegations concerning the voting at Purutún, while the election in the department of La Ligua was challenged because of irregularities in the qualification of voters at the parish of Ingenio. The Chamber ultimately confirmed the election of Ramón Luis Irarrázaval for La Ligua.
Results
The election produced a decisive government majority in the Chamber of Deputies. Of the 56 proprietary deputies elected, nine were classified as opposition representatives by the Library of the National Congress of Chile, leaving 47 aligned with the government.
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Opposition |
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The party classification of individual deputies should be treated cautiously. Political organizations in Chile had not yet developed into the stable modern party system of the later nineteenth century, and contemporary electoral groupings often reflected personal, ideological, and government-alignment networks rather than formal parties.
Among the successful government candidates was Manuel Montt, who was elected deputy for Valparaíso and Casablanca. He became president of the Chamber of Deputies in June 1840 and subsequently entered the government of President-elect Manuel Bulnes.
Senate
The Senate election was conducted indirectly. Electoral colleges from the nine provinces met in April 1840, after which the Senate examined the returns and conducted the final scrutiny on 15 May.
The Senate proclaimed José Miguel Irarrázaval, Juan Agustín Alcalde, Diego Antonio Barros, Rafael Correa de Saa, Juan Francisco Meneses, Pedro Ovalle y Landa, Ramón Subercaseaux, and Ramón Cavareda as elected. Cavareda was elected to complete the unexpired term of Diego Portales.
The national scrutiny recorded 150 electors. Irarrázaval received 133 votes, Alcalde 132, Barros 131, Correa de Saa 129, Meneses 123, Ovalle 112, Subercaseaux 109, and Cavareda 128 for the replacement seat.
All eight successful candidates were aligned with the government, reinforcing the government's control of both chambers of Congress.
Aftermath
The new Congress began its sixth legislative period on 1 June 1840 and continued until 31 May 1843.
The election helped secure the political conditions for the succession of Prieto by Manuel Bulnes. Montt, who had entered Congress through the election, was appointed Minister of the Interior by Prieto in 1840 and played a central role in managing the presidential election that resulted in Bulnes's victory in 1841.
The 1840 election also demonstrated both the persistence and the limits of opposition participation under the conservative political order. Although opposition candidates won nine seats and electoral competition was substantially greater than in several earlier elections, the government retained decisive advantages through its control of electoral administration and its influence over the civic militia. The subsequent Bulnes administration continued the conservative political order while gradually accommodating new liberal currents within the governing coalition.
See also
- History of Chile
- Politics of Chile