Piñera wins presidency as Chile returns to the right FT

Piñera wins presidency as Chile returns to the right FT

Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire businessman, has defeated Chile’s ruling leftist coalition to return the right to power for the first time since the return of democracy after General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990.

The silver-haired airline magnate, who has pledged to implement a change of style but is not expected to make big policy shifts, scored a clear victory over Eduardo Frei, a former president who had been seeking a fifth consecutive term for the ruling Concertación coalition but failed to overcome the left’s image as stagnant and riven by infighting.

With 99.2 per cent of the vote counted, giving Mr Piñera a lead of 51.61 per cent to Mr Frei’s 48.38 per cent, the former president conceded defeat. It was the right’s first victory at the ballot box in Chile since 1958 and bucks a South American trend with the left in power in many countries from Venezuela to Brazil to Argentina.

“I want to congratulate Sebastián Piñera … I wish him success,” said a grim-faced Mr Frei, flanked by two other former Concertación presidents, Patricio Aylwin and Ricardo Lagos. President Michelle Bachelet also telephoned him with congratulations, urging him to continue on the path of social justice plotted by the left in the past two decades.

Political analysts said Mr Piñera owed his victory more to voter dissatisfaction with the left than an embrace of the right in a country where memories of the Pinochet years are still raw. But delighted followers drove through the streets of Santiago honking horns and flag-waving supporters thronged the hotel where Mr Piñera was expected to make a victory speech later.

“This was a vote much more for a change of pilot than for a change of course,” said Patricio Navia, a political analyst. “Chileans want to see new faces.”

Mr Piñera, 60, who holds a doctorate in economics from Harvard, sought during the campaign to allay fears that a return of the right would revive ghosts of the Pinochet dictatorship. He has made ambitious pledges for his four-year term which begins in March, including the creation of 1m new jobs and 6 per cent a year economic growth in the world’s top copper producing nation which joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development this month.

“This is perfectly feasible,” said Felipe Larraín, who is tipped by some analysts to be Mr Piñera’s finance minister.

Mr Piñera, described by colleagues as a pragmatic, tireless man motivated by winning, will have to work with a divided Congress on his policy plans, which include improving the education system and potentially opening up state-owned copper giant Codelco to private investment. After the government of President Michelle Bachelet used windfall profits from Codelco to cushion the impact of the recession in Chile, Mr Piñera could use more of the cash to fund spending programmes, analysts say.

Mr Piñera, who built a business empire spanning an airline, television station and Chile’s top soccer team, is worth a reputed $1.2bn but cultivates a down-to-earth image complete with brightly coloured plastic watch.

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