Congress building

The National Congress (Spanish: Congreso Nacional) is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.

The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4 1811. It is a bicameral legislature comprised by the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), of 120 members and by the Senate (upper house), formed by 49 parliamentarians.

The organisation of Congress and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of the current constitution and by the Constitutional Organic Law No. 18,918. Congress meets in the Chile Congress building , which was built during the last years of the Pinochet regime and stands in the port city of Valparaíso, some 140 km west of the capital, Santiago. This new bulding replaced the old National Congress, located in downtown Santiago.