Chile: Presidential and parliamentary elections - timeline
Searching more than 75 years of world history
- January 2009. The government of President Michelle Bachelet announces a $4 billion economic stimulus package.
- November 2007. Public sector workers strike against education reform.
- August 2007. Chiles largest trade union organises a series of strikes and protests against the governments economic policies.
- December 2006. Gen. (retd) Augusto Pinochet Ugarte dies of a heart attack in a military hospital in Santiago. Thousands of mourners clash with protestors celebrating his death.
- January 2006. Bachelet of the Socialist Party of Chile (PSC) wins the presidential election, ensuring another term for the Concertación alliance.
- June 2005. The Court of Appeal rules that Pinochet is not mentally fit to stand trial for the kidnapping of nine dissidents.
- December 2000. Pinochet is placed under house arrest while awaiting trial for human rights abuses committed under his presidency.
- May 2000. Pinochet is stripped of the immunity from prosecution granted by his status as senator for life.
- February 2000. The UK home secretary denies an extradition request for Pinochet on medical grounds.
- January 2000. Ricardo Lagos Escobar of the ruling centre-left Concertación alliance defeats his centre-right opponent in the second round of presidential elections.
- March 1998. Pinochet steps down as head of the army to become an unelected senator for life. Demonstrations are held across Chile to protest at his installation in the Senate (the upper chamber of the bicameral legislature).
- March 1994. Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the Coalition for Democracy is inaugurated as president.
- April 1992. A former member of the ruling junta is arrested over the deaths of eight left-wing activists during military rule.
- March 1991. The Rettig report into Pinochet-era human rights violations uncovers more than a thousand illegal executions and the widespread use of torture.
- June 1990. The bodies of 18 left-wing political activists are uncovered in a mass grave. The Supreme Court orders a judicial enquiry.
- December 1989. Patricio Aylwin Azócar of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) wins the first presidential elections since the coup of 1973.
- December 1988. Pinochet is voted out in a national referendum. He remains in office until presidential elections to be held in 1989.
- December 1983. A series of demonstrations take place against Pinochets increasingly unpopular rule.
- June 1981. Pinochet is inaugurated for another eight-year term.
- December 1980. A new constitution allowing for a "gradual return to civilian rule" after nine further years of Pinochets presidency is approved by a plebiscite.
- January 1974. Pinochet assumes the leadership of Chile as human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, disappearances and arbitrary arrests, lead to an arms embargo being imposed by the UK.
- October 1973. A coup by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police (the Carabineros) overthrows the government. President Salvador dies in the presidential palace.
- August 1973. A right-wing coup attempt fails to unseat Allende.
- December 1972. A strike by professionals, small business owners and the middle classes force concessions from Allende, including changes to the cabinet.
- October 1971. Allende implements socialist economic policies, including nationalisations.
- October 1970. Allende, representing the left-wing Popular Unity coalition, is elected president as successor to Frei.
- April 1965. The DCP win congressional elections.
- December 1964. Frei, representing the DCP, wins presidential elections.
- April 1954. The law banning the Communist Party is repealed.
- October 1952. Former president (1927-31) General Carlos Ibañez wins presidential elections on a law and order, Peronist manifesto.
- January 1949. Right-wing figures are arrested and put on trial for planning to overthrow the government.
- December 1948. The franchise is extended to include women.
- April 1948. Communists are removed from government posts after the government announces the discovery of a foreign-organised plot.
- October 1947. The Chilean government breaks off relations with the USSR and arrests members of the Communist Party.
- October 1946. Gabriel Gonzalez Videla, the candidate of the Radical Left is elected president.
- April 1941. A bill to ban the Communist Party is vetoed by the president after being passed by the legislature.
- November 1938. The socialist candidate, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, wins presidential elections.
- September 1938. An uprising by "Nazistas" is defeated with 59 deaths. Former president Ibañez is arrested.
- January 1937. Legislation to allow the persecution of communists is passed.
- October 1934. The National Socialist party is banned after reaching an estimated membership of 20000.
- October 1932. Don Arturo Alessandri is elected president.
- June 1932. The government of President Juan Esteban Montero is overthrown and a junta takes power.
- July 1931. Ibañez flees Chile and is replaced by Pedro Opazo, the president of the Senate.
- 1924. General Luis Altamirano seizes power in a military coup.
- 1818. Chile declares independence from Spain and becomes a republic.
- 1535. Spanish conquistadors arrive in search of gold and establish control over the northern areas of what is now Chile.
- 1520. Chile is visited by Europeans for the first time.
