Billionaire Pinera to return as Chile’s president
SANTIAGO: 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-year- old conservative, who previously led the South American nation from 2010- 2014, had 55 per cent of the vote, with 98 per cent 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 per cent.
“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 tagteamed the presidency since Bachelet first took office in 2006. Since then, they have alternated in power, switching Chile’s politics between center-left and center-right 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 per cent in the first round of the election held Nov 19.
Analysts had speculated that Guillier could bolster his 22 per cent 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 fifthbiggest economy. — AFP