Chile Votes in Bitterly Divisive Presidential Election
Mr. Guillier did that Today’s election pits not just the left versus right for the presidency,
but also reflects a lighter version of the insider-outsider drama that is developing in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.
that Guillier only got 22 percent,
17, 2017
SANTIAGO, Chile — Voters across Chile began casting ballots in a tight presidential runoff Sunday morning, choosing between a center-left candidate
and a billionaire former president, and deciding whether to reverse years of economic and political overhauls.
The election pits Alejandro Guillier, 64, a journalist
and sociologist of the center-left coalition New Majority, against former President Sebastián Piñera, 68, of the rightist Chile Vamos.
The country owes its new political makeup to changes Ms. Bachelet pressed, including gender parity in parties’
lists of candidates, a more representative electoral system and tighter controls on campaign finance.
Mr. Piñera obtained 36 percent of votes that day, compared with 22 percent for Mr. Guillier; 20 percent for Beatriz Sánchez, of the leftist coalition Frente Amplio
that was founded early this year; and 8 percent for José Antonio Kast, a far-right champion of the Pinochet dictatorship.
Under Ms. Bachelet’s leadership, taxes on large corporations were raised to finance free higher education for low-income students; abortion in some circumstances was legalized; union rights were strengthened;
and a new electoral system allowed minority parties and independent politicians greater representation in Congress.