Center-right candidate Sebastian Pinera swept Chile´s presidential election today, crushing his populist opponent by a larger than expected margin of nine percentage points.
The outcome reinforces a market-oriented shift in Latin America´s political landscape.
Pinera, a wealthy businessman, already served as president of the copper-exporting country during 2000-14. He defeated senator and former television news anchor Alejandro Guillier, who proposed to deepen a controversial package of social and economic reforms spearheaded by incumbent president Michelle Bachelet.
The president-elect inherits a sluggish economy that rising copper prices could begin to revive. Pinera will be under pressure to tackle are social issues such as galloping immigration and pension reform.
Most of Chile´s conservative business community backed Pinera. But his previous administration was criticized for lacking a coherent energy policy. He supported the development of controversial hydroelectric dams in southern Chile, projects that were later scrapped under Bachelet. The country has since emerged as a significant LNG importer and a magnet for solar and wind energy projects.
Fearing a government further to the left of Bachelet´s administration, right-leaning voters were especially energized in the weeks following the first round vote last month, which Pinera won by a smaller than expected margin.
Addressing his jubilant supporters, Pinera said Chile needs "more agreements than confrontations." He takes office in March next year.
Conceding his loss, Guillier called the election "impeccable", and congratulated Pinera for his "massive triumph". He called on his supporters reflect on the outcome and learn from what was a big defeat.
"Everybody said this was going to be a tight race, and it wasn't at all. This was a substantial victory. Pinera has a mandate," one of Pinera´s followers said.
With 99.87pc of votes tallied, Pinera won 54.57pc of the vote, compared with 45.43pc for Guillier, according to electoral agency Servel.
Pinera's victory cements a center-right wave across Latin America in recent years, embodied by Argentina's Mauricio Macri and Brazil's Michel Temer. Other countries that had been firmly in the socialist camp such as Ecuador and Bolivia have begun to tilt toward the center and away from their faltering political patron Venezuela.
