This is great news for the South American nation of Chile as the voters are sending Sebastián Piñera to the presidential palace for the first time since democracy was restored in Chile in 1990.
It clearly bucks a trend of many Latin American nations from Mexico to Chile of electing left-wing governments in recent elections.
President-elect Pinera is the leader of the National Renewal party and ran under a center-right coalition known as Coalition for Change. Hmm, where have we heard that before? President-elect Pinera won the first round of balloting last month, but not the 50% threshold out right. Thus was the runoff today.
And while President-elect Pinera did not manage a huge win, it was a large one to declare a mandate to change the left-wing policies that have dominated Chile since the restoration of democracy.
The lower House of the national congress is divided with the Coalition for Change having 58 seats and the left-wing coalition of Concertación with 57 seats. The senate is also divided with nine seats for each coalition.
There will be a lot of work for President-elect Pinera ahead. But the first big task is out of the way. Victory at the polls.
Chilean voters may be finally tired of left-wing policies that do not work and willing to give conservative a chance to lead this nation. That is what to take away from this election.
Hope and Change, the conservative edition for Chile.
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