The 1861 Chilean parliamentary election was held on 27 March 1861 to renew the Chamber of Deputies and part of the Senate of Chile. It took place during the final months of the presidency of Manuel Montt, whose National Party had dominated Chilean politics during the preceding decade. The opposition Liberal Party and Conservative Party, united in the Liberal-Conservative Fusion, won 31 of the 72 seats in the Chamber, including 17 Liberals and 14 Conservatives. The Nationals nevertheless retained a majority with 41 seats.
The election marked an important transition in Chilean political history. The Liberal-Conservative opposition had formed in 1858 in response to the government of Montt and its exercise of presidential power, while the National Party represented the governing coalition associated with Montt and his minister Antonio Varas. The election therefore helped establish the political conditions for the government of José Joaquín Pérez, whose presidency beginning in September 1861 is generally regarded as the start of Chile's Liberal Republic.
The 1858 Chilean parliamentary election was held on 28 March 1858 to elect the Chamber of Deputies and seven of the 20 seats in the Senate. The governing National Party, which supported President Manuel Montt, retained a majority in Congress, while the opposition Liberal-Conservative Fusion secured 14 seats in the 72-member Chamber according to the historical reconstruction used by the Library of the National Congress of Chile.
The election took place after the division of the governing conservative movement in the wake of the Question of the Sacristan, a dispute between the government and the Catholic Church that contributed to the emergence of the National and Conservative parties. Liberals and the newly organized opposition Conservatives subsequently formed the Liberal-Conservative Fusion, an electoral alliance opposed to Montt's government.
Although the Fusion failed to dislodge the government through the election, the result intensified the political conflict surrounding Montt's administration. Opposition politicians challenged the government's influence over elections and its broader exercise of presidential authority. These tensions contributed to the 1859 Chilean civil war, in which liberal and conservative opponents of Montt attempted to overthrow the government.
The 1855 Chilean parliamentary election was held on 25 March 1855 during the presidency of Manuel Montt. It renewed the Chamber of Deputies and the portion of the Senate subject to periodic renewal under the Constitution of 1833.
The election was an overwhelming victory for candidates supported by Montt's government. The opposition Liberal Party contested relatively few districts and was defeated in most of those it contested. The principal exceptions were the mining region around Copiapó, where liberals Manuel Antonio Matta and José Victorino Lastarria were elected, and Lontué, where Federico Errázuriz Zañartu won a seat.
The election took place in a period of growing political opposition to Montt's government. The divisions that developed among conservatives and liberals after the 1851 revolution and the later Question of the Sacristan contributed to the emergence of distinct political groupings. The opposition victories in 1855, particularly in Copiapó, demonstrated the growing strength of liberalism outside Santiago and helped establish a political base for the opposition that would become more significant in the following years.
The 1852 Chilean parliamentary election was held beginning on 28 March 1852 during the first year of the presidency of Manuel Montt. It renewed the Chamber of Deputies and resulted in the election of nine substitute senators under a new law enacted on 5 January 1852.
The election produced an overwhelming majority for supporters of Montt's government. The opposition had been weakened by the 1851 revolution and, according to the historical account cited by the Library of the National Congress of Chile, did not organize electoral campaigns in most constituencies. The resulting Chamber was consequently dominated by government supporters.
The election took place in the aftermath of the 1851 uprising against Montt, which had been led by liberal and regional opponents of his election. The government's victory at the polls reinforced the political predominance of the conservative establishment, although divisions within it would become increasingly important during the following years.