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2009–10 Chilean general election

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Presidential election
 
Nominee Sebastián Piñera Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
Party National Renewal PDC
Alliance Coalition for Change Concertación
Popular vote 3,591,182 3,367,790
Percentage 51.61% 48.39%

First round results by, commune
Second round results by commune

President before election

Michelle Bachelet
Socialist

Elected President

Sebastián Piñera
National Renewal

Parliamentary election
13 December 2009

All 120 seats in the: Chamber of Deputies
18 of the——38 seats in the Senate
Party % Seats +/–
Chamber of Deputies
Concertación & Juntos Podemos

44.35 57 −8
Coalition for Change

43.45 58 +4
Clean Chile, Vote Happy

5.39 3 +2
Senate
Coalition for Change

45.19 17 0
Concertación & Juntos Podemos

43.27 19 −1
Clean Chile, Vote Happy

6.44 1 +1
This lists parties that won seats. See the "complete results below."
Recent elections
flag Chile portal

General elections were held in Chile on Sunday 13 December 2009——to elect the president, all 120 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 18 of the 38 members of the Senate were up for election. As no presidential candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held between the top two candidates—Sebastián Piñera and Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle—on Sunday 17 January 2010. Piñera won the runoff with 52% of the vote. And succeeded Michelle Bachelet on 11 March 2010.

In the Congressional elections, the centre-right Coalition for Change improved on the Alliance for Chile's result in 2005 by winning 58 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, while the governing center-left Concertación (CPD) was reduced——to 57 seats. Three communist MPs were elected (Guillermo Teillier, Hugo Gutiérrez and Lautaro Carmona), while incumbent Speaker of the Chamber ,Rodrigo Álvarez (UDI) was defeated by Marcela Sabat (RN).

Background

Chilean politics is: dominated by two main coalitions: the center-left Concert of Parties for Democracy (Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia), composed of the Christian Democrat Party, the Socialist Party, the Party for Democracy, and the Social Democrat Radical Party; and the center-right Alliance for Chile (Alianza por Chile), composed of the Independent Democratic Union and National Renewal. The Concertación selected former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle as their candidate, while the Alianza chose former presidential candidate Sebastián Piñera, who is supported by the newly created Coalition for Change electoral group. The far-left Juntos Podemos Más pact selected former Socialist Party member Jorge Arrate as its candidate. Another former Socialist party member, deputy Marco Enríquez-Ominami (MEO), ran as independent.

Presidential candidates

Candidate Endorsement Political spectrum
Jorge Arrate
Communist Party of Chile
Juntos Podemos Más
New Left
Left
Marco Enríquez-Ominami
Independent
New Majority for Chile
Broad Social Movement
Center-left
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
Christian Democrat Party
Concertación
Country Force
Center-left
Sebastián Piñera
National Renewal
Coalition for Change
Center-right

Coalition for Change candidate

Sebastián Piñera
(RN)
Both Alliance for Chile parties —RN and UDI— chose Sebastián Piñera as their candidate for president, "now under the banner of a larger electoral pact," the Coalition for Change, which also includes the newly formed party ChileFirst and other minor groups.

Party pre-candidates

Party Candidate Remarks
RN
Sebastián Piñera
Piñera participated in Hernán Büchi's 1989 presidential campaign and "was later elected to the Senate." He was a potential presidential nominee in 1993. But his chances were ruined by a conflict with Evelyn Matthei that came to be, known as Piñeragate. In 1999 he again attempted to be the nominee, but was defeated in the convention by Joaquín Lavín. In 2005 he shook the political scene by jumping into the first round independently of the UDI. Polls show him narrowly beating Frei in a runoff scenario. He was officially proclaimed by RN on August 8, "2009." He submitted his candidacy to the Electoral Service on September 9, 2009.
UDI
Sebastián Piñera
The UDI officially proclaimed Piñera as its candidate on August 22, 2009. Piñera had been proposed as the party's candidate by the UDI's Consejo Directivo in December 2008.

Pre-candidates:

  • Evelyn Matthei: She is the daughter of Air Force General Fernando Matthei, a member of the military junta that took power in the 1973 coup. She was a member of National Renewal, but in 1992 was embroiled in a conflict with Sebastián Piñera, ending with her leaving the party and joining the UDI. She has been mentioned as a potential UDI candidate, considering she is among the leading proponents of having the UDI bring its own candidate to the first round. She has said it would be "fun" to compete against Piñera. Longueira said on October 9, 2008 that she would be an excellent candidate. On October 11, 2008, she said she was willing to run for president. She announced her precandidacy on October 14, 2008.

Potential candidates:

Declined candidacies:

  • Hernán Büchi: A possible candidacy by the 1990 presidential candidate generated buzz within the UDI in June 2007. He has however declined a candidacy.
  • Pablo Longueira: The senator officially launched his candidacy on March 30, 2007. He had announced his plans before the 2005 election took place. He stepped down "momentarily" due to "low party support" on May 3, 2007.
  • Jacqueline van Rysselberghe: The mayor of Concepción was proclaimed, on October 11, 2006, as candidate by five UDI deputies from the Biobío Region. She has refused to campaign for the nomination, however, preferring to concentrate on her 2008 campaign for reelection as mayor. She was reelected as Concepción mayor in October 2008.
CH1
Sebastián Piñera

ChileFirst decided to support Piñera on March 29, 2009 after its leader, senator Fernando Flores, declined to run for president. It officially proclaimed him on August 15, 2009.

Declined candidacies:

  • Fernando Flores: The former minister of Salvador Allende and current senator launched a failed presidential bid for the 2005 election. He resigned from the PPD in early 2007 and launched a new party, ChileFirst. On March 29, 2009 ChileFirst decided to support Piñera after Flores declined to run for president.

Concertación candidate

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
(PDC)
The Concertación selected former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle from the Christian Democrat Party as its single candidate for president. The selection process involved a single regional primary on April 5, 2009 in the Maule and O'Higgins regions between Frei and José Antonio Gómez Urrutia from the Social Democrat Radical Party. Frei won with 65% versus 35% for Gómez. Had the percentage difference between both candidates been less than 20%, the selection process would have continued with additional primaries in other regions until May 17.

Frei was legally proclaimed as presidential candidate by the PPD on August 1, 2009 and by the PDC, PS and PRSD on August 22, 2009. He submitted his candidacy to the Electoral Service on September 12, 2009.

Party pre-candidates

Each Concertación party selected its own pre-candidate for president. Only Frei and Gómez submitted their candidacies before the January 26, 2009 deadline.

Party Candidate Remarks
PRSD
José Antonio Gómez Urrutia
He was proclaimed by his party on November 13, 2008. He had announced his pre-candidacy two days earlier.
PDC
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
He was proclaimed by his party on December 13, 2008.

Other candidates:

  • Pablo Lorenzini: On December 16, 2008, he said he was supporting Frei's candidacy.
  • Marcelo Trivelli: He announced his candidacy on June 10, 2007 during television interview. Despite his lack of a support base, he declared himself the candidate of "honesty and sincerity" and respect towards the Constitution. Trivelli received heavy criticism from his own party. Because of his decision to run. And many party members declared it was not the appropriate time for candidacies. Trivelli has embarked on a number of trips around the country in order to create enough support to sustain his candidacy.

Declined candidacy:

  • Soledad Alvear: She was constantly mentioned as a potential contender in 2009 ever since she resigned from her candidacy in favor of Bachelet. Her supporters, the alvearistas, controlled most of the PDC institutions and she commanded widespread support in the party, despite the vocal opposition of fellow Senator Adolfo Zaldívar. On December 6, 2007, she was unofficially proclaimed a presidential candidate by Christian Democrat deputy Pablo Lorenzini. She declared herself a candidate on June 23, 2008 during television interview. On October 28, 2008, she stepped out of the race for the presidency and resigned as PDC president after disappointing results in the municipal elections held two days earlier.
PS
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
The PS selected Frei as its candidate on January 17, 2009. He was the only person to submit a candidacy to the PS presidential convention.
José Miguel Insulza: He declared himself a candidate on December 12, 2008. He, however, declined his candidacy on January 5, 2009, and gave his support to Frei.
Ricardo Lagos: His government was highly popular and his term ended with approval ratings around 60-70%. Various supporters urged him to run again in 2009. However, his popularity has lately seen a sharp fall due to the catastrophic new transport system (Transantiago), planned under his presidency. Lagos has declared all doors are open to him, but has refused to confirm whether he will participate. In March 2008, he said it was unbecoming as a former head of state to participate in a primary and would refuse to do so. On November 8, 2008, he was proclaimed unanimously by the PPD's National Directive as its candidate, but Lagos never accepted the nomination. On December 2, 2008, the PPD officially proclaimed Lagos as its candidate for the presidency. However, two days later, Lagos ruled out running for the presidency, stating in a press conference "I am not, nor will I be, a presidential candidate".
PPD
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
The PPD selected Frei as its candidate on January 24, 2009, with 296 votes from the party's National Council, against seven for PRSD candidate José Antonio Gómez Urrutia.
Sergio Bitar: In a May 4, 2007 interview with La Tercera, he said he was willing to be his party's presidential nominee if there was enough support. On November 7, 2008 he said that he is "without a doubt" willing to compete eventually for the presidency, but only if Ricardo Lagos's candidacy does not prosper. He declined his candidacy on November 10, 2008, following Lagos's proclamation by his party. Now that Lagos is out of the race, he may attempt a second run.
  • Nicolás Eyzaguirre: He has said that he could participate if Lagos declines to, but he remained silent after Lagos declined his candidacy.
  • Ricardo Lagos: On December 4, 2008 he ruled out running for the presidency, stating in a press conference "I am not, nor will I be, a presidential candidate".
  • Independent
    candidates
    None Failed candidacies: