As a commune, Illapel is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years.

[1] Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Illapel is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Adriana Muñoz (PDC) and Luis Lemus (Ind.)

The commune is represented in the Senate by Evelyn Matthei Fornet (UDI) and Jorge Pizarro Soto (PDC) as part of the 4th senatorial constituency (Coquimbo Region).

[2] On September 16, 2015, at 22:54:33 UTC (19:54:33 local time), a great earthquake of magnitude 8.3 hit the area, with an epicenter 46 km (29 mi) west of Illapel.

[3] The earthquake caused physical damage, the loss of human lives, forced the evacuation of one million people from the coast (some sources mistakenly claimed a million people evacuated from Santiago), and a tsunami warning was issued for parts of South America, Hawaii, California and French Polynesia.