Research Outputs
Electoral Districts in Chile: Optimizing Socio-Economic Homogeneity and Demographic Balance
This article addresses the problem of unequal representation in Chile, where the current districting does not effectively consider its socio-economic diversity. An innovative methodology is proposed that uses the socio-economic dissimilarity distance (SED) obtained using a cluster analysis to create more homogeneous electoral districts. This SED is incorporated into a mathematical programming model for (re)districting and seat allocation, taking into account criteria such as the demographic balance, contiguity and compactness. The application of this methodology in the Santiago Metropolitan Region shows a significant improvement in both the socio-economic homogeneity and demographic balance of the districts. This research has relevant implications for electoral justice in Chile, as it proposes a way to improve the representativeness and ensure that the needs of each social group are reflected in the decision-making process.
Model of district distribution and seat assignment for the reform of the Chilean electoral system
La representatividad del mapa electoral del sistema binominal chileno, siempre fue un tema problemĂ¡tico a la hora de las elecciones. Si bien la reforma del año 2015 aborda en mejor medida las distorsiones que el sistema binominal manifestaba, aĂºn sigue presentando problemas de representatividad poblaciĂ³n-escaño. Bajo este escenario, se introduce un modelo de programaciĂ³n matemĂ¡tica que define los distritos y asigna los escaños de la CĂ¡mara de Diputados de Chile, obteniendo mejoras significativas en tres indicadores para medir la representatividad. Las implicancias de esta redistritaciĂ³n a nivel de anĂ¡lisis polĂtico son importantes, sin embargo, Ă©stas no son consideradas en este trabajo.