Presidential elections in Chile

Twisting to the right

For those who believe that South America is in the grip of a left revolutionary fervor, the elections in Chile may have come as a surprise. The mogul magnate Sebastián Pińera - more commonly known as the 'Chilean Berlusconi' - became its first conservative president in 20 years. With 51.6% of the vote, Pińera defeated Eduardo Frei, from the center-left coalition (La Concertación) that used to rule the country. It clearly shows the tiredness of the electorate with the Concertación's recycled politicians


By LUAN GALANI (luan.galani@wavemagazine.net)
from Curitiba, BRAZIL


Chile ushered in a new political era on January 17th after billionaire businessman Sebastián Pińera became its first rightwing leader since the dictator Augusto Pinochet left office in 1990. Nicknamed by foreign press as the 'Chilean Berlusconi', Pińera put an end to a 20-year generation of rule by the center-left coalition - La Concertación - that had led the transformation of the country of 17 million into Latin America's most politically stable and economically dynamic. He won 51.6% of the vote for the conservatives, defeating the Concertación's former president Eduardo Frei. But Mr. Pińera was elected with fewer votes than any president since 1990. Many of the voters simply preferred to stay at home.

The student Paula Morales, 19, got out early to vote in the centre of Santiago for Sebastián Pińera, but admits that most part of her friends preferred chilling out or walking than voting. "Here, most young people are already disillusioned with politics", she says. "They have the impression that voting does not change anything".

When the left-wing coalition between democrats and socialists won power in Chile 20 years ago, its resounding victory signified the epoch-making end of the Pinochet dictatorship and the restoration of democracy. During all these years, the left governments made great achievements and managed to grapple with major questions. They brought some perpetrators from the army to court for crimes committed against the people during the dictatorship, eliminated authoritarian institutional obstacles once presented in the Constitution and rose both education and prosperity. For all that, Chile is now one of the countries with less income disparity in the whole hemisphere. So that a few days ago the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - group of the most developed democracies in the world - invited Chile to go in.

However, this ribbon-like shape's country has tired of the Concertación. It failed in allowing younger talents to take part in the game. Some cases of corruption undermined its moral. Every day all newspapers told Chileans that criminals did whatever they wanted. Only 25% of the young between 18 and 29 were registered to vote. The nation clearly wanted some change. And running with an Obama-like slogan of "Join us for a Change", Pińera took advantage of that widespread conviction.

Also, in this context, Michelle Bachelet, that leaves office with an enormously approval rate of 80% - the highest for a president since the return of democracy - has not been successful in transferring it to Eduardo Frei, the Concertación candidate. Her approval rate was totally entailed to her personal traces: her affective proximity to population, the emphasis she gave to social programmes and feminine support. Eduardo Frei, on the other hand, was not a charismatic character like her, as openDemocracy claims. During his own government (1994-2000), he had not paid enough attention to social agenda themes. By contrast, Mr. Pińera exudes fresh energy.



Despite his triumph, he is going to start his mandate relatively weak. He will have to govern without a majority in a split Congress. And he already knows it. So, Pińera called for his defeated opponents to join what he wants to be a government of national unity. But he also has powerful key support in the media, most of which were hostile to the Concertación.

If his election is analyzed under the current political dynamics in Latin-America, it is easy to notice that Chile simply follows the mainstream. Mr. Pińera comes together with Alan Garcia (Peru), Felipe Calderón (Mexico) and Álvaro Uribe (Colombia) as clearly rightwing leaders of important Latin-American countries where left candidates with a socialist agenda that used to have strong dominions. In the region, with a few exceptions like Venezuela and Bolivia, the old political polarizations do not matter any more.

Future gallops

Pińera graduated from Economics in Harvard and used to be a 60-year-old senator in Chile. He is an active magnate, a tycoon who has participation in several public companies, what will create splenetic cross purposes. Another conundrum is going to be his acquaintance with allies from the UDI (Unión Demócrata Independiente/ Independent Democratic Union), of the extreme rightwing, several of whom collaborated directly with Pinochet's dictatorship and have very conservative ideological positions.

He says he will keep the social policies of the Concertación at the same time he will raise economic growth to 6% a year, a rate Chile got in the 1990s but which is much harder now that it is wealthier. "There isn't a moment to lose, we have to start to gallop", he said. Some of his promises will be truly challenges. "Even if the new cabinet was made up of Christ's apostles, that is technically impossible," argued Armen Kouyoumdjian, an investment banker, in a newsletter.

One big change may come in Chile's diplomatic relations in Latin America. While Michelle Bachelet was close to Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Pińera is friendly with Colombia's conservative leader, Álvaro Uribe. Moreover, there is a cloud possibility that he will have the same success that Bachelet had when it comes to dealing with Peru and Bolivia about fierce territorial divergences. For instance, Chile has a non-solved historical dispute with Bolivia, which reclaims the recuperation of its exit to the Pacific ocean.

For the Concertación, the election result gives a significant incentive to remake itself under younger leadership. As the outgoing president Michelle Bachelet used to say: "No hay marcha atrás" ("There is no comeback"). In the meanwhile, Chile will find out if such a change was worthy or not.


(Published: 09.02.2010.)