Chile’s Governing Coalition Stumbles In Municipal Elections

President Sebastián Piñera’s center-right Alianza coalition stumbled in municipal elections held late last month throughout Chile, dropping tight mayoral races in several conservative strongholds. But while most pundits and political leaders agree the elections were a “defeat” for the Alianza, few are clear on what the results mean for its traditional rival, the still influential but increasingly fractured Concertación coalition.

Chile’s Concertacion Coalition Hobbled By Cohesion Problems

Presidential hopeful Andres Velsasco (World Trade Organization/Flickr)

Given the frequent political posturing that has already begun over who should be Chile’s next president, it is easy to forget that the country’s current leader, Sebastián Piñera, is only just two years into his term.

A Summer Ceasefire For Chile’s Student Protestors. Will They Be Back In 2012?

"No more repression" (simenon/flickr)

Chile’s warm southern summer has brought an end – for now at least – to a relentless sequence of student-led protests that dominated headlines for much of 2011, cost two education ministers their jobs and sank President Sebastián Piñera’s approval rating.  

Chile’s Student Demonstrators Put President Piñera To The Test

A June protest in Santiago, Chile (credit - Dave_B_/flickr)

At some point over the past several months, President Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire businessman who until recently had also enjoyed a winning record in politics, lost his Midas touch. Now it seems he may be losing control.

Chile’s Billion-Dollar President Loses His Midas Touch

Sophomore slump continues for President Pinera (Credit - Globovision/Flickr)

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera hit something of a political homerun last year when he delivered an ambitious – and unexpectedly centrist – *May 21 state of the nation address that left his would-be critics in the reeling Concertación coalition with surprisingly little to say.

Chile’s Piñera Tripped Up By Internal Divisions

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera (credit - Mabel Flores/Flickr)

Weighed down by a pair of government scandals that have exacerbated intra-coalition rivalries and already cost several administration officials their jobs, President Sebastián Piñera may be longing for the days when his biggest problems came from outside his political circle.

Pinera Takes The Helm Of Quake-Rattled Chile

Two decades of leadership by the center-left Concertacion coalition came to an official end March 11, when Sebastian Pinera, a conservative billionaire businessman and onetime senator, donned Chile’s presidential sash for the first time in what turned out to be a literally earth shaking event.

Chile: Concertacion Bruised And Battered In Municipal Elections

Chile’s center-left Concertacion may finally be losing its magic touch. In last month’s municipal elections the governing coalition–which has dominated Chilean politics for the past two decades–suffered what is widely considered its first “defeat,” losing to the conservative Alianza partnership. It now faces an even bigger challenge in the Alianza’s Sebastian Pinera, a wealthy businessman and former senator who enjoys early front-runner status ahead of next year’s presidential contest.

The Alianza, representing the conservative Union Democrata Indpendiente (UDI) and Pinera’s center-right Renovacion Nacional (RN), won 40.5% of votes cast in the Oct. 26 mayoral contests, edging out the Concertacion (38.4%) for the first time ever. The four-party governing coalition still holds a slight advantage in overall mayorships: 146 to the Alianza’s 142. That lead is tiny, however, compared to the 203-104 advantage it enjoyed after the last municipal elections, in 2004.