ABSTRACT
In Chile, the issue of party funding and electoral campaigns has been prominent because of an increasing awareness that parties need public financing and that the contributions made by business to parties and candidates require regulation. The soaring costs of electoral campaigns were clearly visible in the congressional elections of 1993, and also in the municipal elections of 27 October 1996, when many candidates spent large amounts of money, something unprecedented in Chile’s competitive politics. This display of financial resources was apparent not only in the campaigns of would-be senators and deputies belonging to the right wing opposition parties, Renovación Nacional (RN) and Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI), but also among certain candidates from the major parties in the Con-certación: Christian Democrat (PDC), Socialist (PS) and Partido por la Democracia (PPD). The issue, therefore, is not one that affects only right wing candidates; it is one that extends to centre and left wing party candidates. It is becoming clear that only candidates with a personal fortune, or with the support of business, can hope to find their way into Congress or local government.
