Unfortunately, I cannot become president of Chile. However being president of any country is just not on my to-do list. Even so, Chile does not allow foreigners to even vote unless they have been living in Chile legally for five years and are at least 18 years of age.
The process of voting is overseen by the Electoral Service which is independent from the Chilean government. They do all of the work, but the announcement of winners is done by the Election Qualifying Court, which is made up of four Supreme Court members and a former legislator who is picked by the Supreme Court. This eliminates any efforts of corruption of clientelism.
The electoral system in Chile is binomial, in which the New Majority and the Alliance dominated the population. Much like in the United States, the Democratic party is similar to the New Majority as being leftist, and the Republican party being similar to the Alliance holding rightist beliefs. This has been the status quo since the Pinochet regime. Much like in the United States, it does not allow for much progress to be made politically because the views differ drastically and the power is shared equally between the two parties.
It is my belief that having a binomial system is hindering to the ability of the government. It takes twice as long for anything to be accomplished and by that time there have been so many compromises made that the agreed upon change is rendered useless. However, I find it had to have any other type of system without allowing for one party to completely take control and make changes that the republic is not in favor of. Although all systems have flaws, this is perhaps the most sound system for keeping the peace and hearing all voices on issues.
The next presidential election in Chile is in 2018, so we will have to wait to see how that turns out in terms of which political party takes the reins. Currently Michelle Bachelet is affiliated with the New Majority party, so I bet that the next president will have ties to the Alliance.
Querido Chile 