CHILE
Another Election, Another Billionaire
Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera swept to victory in the second round of Chile’s presidential election with 54.6 percent of the vote on Sunday.
The former president had promised to reboot the economy, following four years of doldrums under the current center-left ruling coalition – which fractured before the polls, Bloomberg reported. Current socialist President Michelle Bachelet had backed Pinera’s left-wing opponent Alejandro Guillier.
Previously president from 2010 to 2014, Pinera has pledged to ease pressure on industry, after Bachelet increased corporate taxes and worked to empower labor unions. However, he also promised to expand Bachelet’s flagship project of free higher education.
His pro-business agenda helped push the benchmark IPSA stock index to a record high before the first round of voting – which he also won handily. Despite a margin of victory that could be the largest in recent history for a right wing government in Chile, Pinera will preside over a very fragmented legislature, noted Kenneth Bunker, director of the electoral program at the Universidad Central.
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