Billionaire Pinera wins Chile presidency, returning right to power for first time in 20 years

Billionaire Sebastian Pinera wins Chile presidency

SANTIAGO, Chile — Billionaire Sebastian Pinera won Chile’s presidential vote Sunday in the country’s first democratic election of a right-wing ruler in 52 years.

Pinera earned 52 percent of the votes to 48 percent for the ruling coalition’s candidate Eduardo Frei with 99 percent of the ballots counted, ending two decades of center-left rule since Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Pinera — who ran on a platform of creating jobs and boosting economic growth in the world’s top copper producer — thanked his opponents and called for unity. “We need not only a good government but a good opposition, working constructively to build a country for all of us,” he said as he shared a stage with Frei.

Frei had warm words for both Pinera but earlier credited outgoing President Michelle Bachelet and the ruling coalition for making Chile “much better than the country we received in 1990.”

Frei, who remains a senator, vowed to be “guardians of liberty and of all our social victories” while the right wing is in power.

Pinera led by a wide margin throughout the race, which tightened only after Frei and Bachelet repeatedly invoked the legacy of Pinochet, whose dictatorship was supported by the same parties that back Pinera.

But many leftists are disenchanted after two decades with the same politicians in power, and their efforts to raise fears of a retreat on human rights failed to persuade enough of them to turn out against Pinera, whose success in the voting booth is the first for Chile’s right wing since Jorge Allesandri Rodriguez won the presidency in 1958.

Bachelet and Pinera also congratulated each other in a nationally televised telephone call.

“The people have democratically elected you to be president of the republic, and I hope that Chile can continue on the path of justice and social progress that we have developed during these 20 years,” Bachelet told him.

Pinera responded by asking for her advice and help “to be able to continue many of the good things that have been done during your government, and of course to confront other challenges.”

Pinera focused his campaign on hopes for change, promising to create a million jobs and double Chile’s per-capita annual income of $12,000 by expanding growth to 6 percent a year.

Frei and Pinera agreed on most issues — a reflection of the remarkable economic, social and political success that has given Bachelet nearly 80 percent approval ratings. Analysts predicted Pinera would make no radical moves to shake up this consensus.

The biggest change may be in foreign affairs.

Bachelet tried to defuse tensions with Chile’s neighbors, putting Bolivia’s long-held desire for access to the sea on their bilateral agenda and avoiding direct criticism of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

But Pinera, a friend of Colombia’s conservative President Alvaro Uribe, has been more outspoken, criticizing populism as a failed approach and saying Venezuela “is not a democracy as it is.” He also vowed never to concede any of Chile’s coast to Bolivia.

With Congress evenly divided, Pinera will need leftists to get anything done, and for the first time since Pinochet’s 1973 coup, this includes several Communist Party lawmakers whose votes could become key tiebreakers.

Pinera put his Harvard University Ph.D. in economics to use popularizing credit cards in Chile, growing a fortune that now includes a large share of Chile’s main airline, a leading television channel and the country’s most popular soccer team.

At 60, he still enjoys risky sports, from paragliding to scuba-diving, rafting and piloting his own helicopter. Always on the move and with natural good humor, he laughs off nervous tics that include shrugging his shoulders, pressing his lips and rocking his head from side to side, once confessing that he buys clothes two sizes too big to feel more comfortable.

This was his second run for the presidency — he lost by nearly 7 points to Bachelet in 2006, and has remained in permanent campaign mode since then, promising “change, future and hope” for all Chileans.

Other promises include privatizing 20 percent of state-owned Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, and hiring 10,000 new police officers and pushing for renewable energy and improvements in public education.

Socially, he said he would expand legal rights for gay and lesbian couples, but draw the line against same-sex marriage or adoption. He’s also against euthanasia and abortion, which remains illegal in all cases in Chile.

Associated Press Writers Eva Vergara and Federico Quilodran contributed to this story.