Unlike many of the other countries in the region, Chile has a
long history of democratic Presidents. The President of Chile is both the chief of state and the chief of government.
Before the presidential institution (at the beginning of the Republican and independent state), there was the figure of Director Supremo (Supreme Director). There were XX of them:
Bernardo O´Higgins Riquelme 1820-1823
Agustín Manuel de Eyzaguirre y Arechavala 1823-1823
Plenipotentiary Congress: Juan Egaña Risco, Manuel Fernando Vásquez de Novoa y López de Artigas, Manuel Antonio González Valenzuela 1823
Ramón Freire Serrano 1823
Supreme Junta of diputados: Mariano Egaña Fabres, Santiago Fernández y González Barriga, Diego José Benavente y García de Bustamante 1823