Chile’s new president

Chilean presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera (right) and his wife Cecilia Morel (left) wave Chilean flags as they celebrate his victory with family and supporters outside a hotel in Santiago after the runoff election on Sunday

Billionaire Sebastian Pinera will return to power as Chile’s president next year, according to virtually complete results from a runoff election held Sunday.

Electoral authorities said the 68-yearold conservative, who previously led the South American nation from 2010-14, had 55 percent of the vote, with 98 percent of ballots counted.

His leftist rival Alejandro Guillier, a 64-year-old TV presenter turned senator who ran as an independent backed by outgoing center-left President Michelle Bachelet, conceded after receiving 45 percent.

“We have suffered a tough defeat,” Guillier said. He called for the opposition to “defend” reforms started under Bachelet.

He said Pinera walked away with “a solid and impeccable triumph.”

Pinera will lead the country – the world’s top copper producer – for four years starting in March 2018.

He will once again take over from Bachelet, who was barred by the constitution from running for re-election.

Bachelet and Pinera have tag-teamed the presidency since Bachelet first took office in 2006. Since then, they have alternated in power, switching Chile’s politics between center-left and centerright each time.

Pinera supporters were gathered outside his election headquarters in anticipation of his victory speech.

The outcome of the runoff had been far from certain after Pinera scored a much lower than expected 37 percent in the first round of the election held November 19.

Analysts had speculated that Guillier could bolster his 22 percent from that round by getting votes from other leftist candidates who were defeated.

But in the end, most voters appeared to come down in favor of the experience of Pinera, who is worth about $2.7 billion and painted himself as a safe pair of hands for Latin America’s fifth-biggest economy.

Voting had taken place under a somber cloud Sunday, following the deaths of 11 people and the disappearance of 15 others in a mudslide in a southern town.

The picturesque village of Villa Santa Lucia was unable to vote in the runoff.