The regions are divided into provinces (the second-level administrative division), each headed by a governor (gobernador) appointed by the President.

Provinces are divided into communes (the third and lowest level administrative division), which are governed by municipal councils.

The Santiago Metropolitan Region, located in the center of the country and home to the country's capital Santiago, was excluded from this naming scheme and given instead the initials RM, standing for Región Metropolitana ("Metropolitan Region" in Spanish).

The new territorial organization was implemented in phases with some initial "pilot regions" beginning to operate in 1974, extending the process on January 1, 1976, to the rest of the country.

The intendants count with the direct collaboration of the SEREMI (Ministerial Regional secretary) in specific matters, such as public health, education, agriculture, among others.

Since the 2013 election the regional board members (Consejero regional) are directly elected using an open list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method.