Chile’s Unpopular President Apologizes In Penultimate State Of the Nation Address

President Piñera delivers his next-to-last May 21 address (congresochile/flickr)

President Sebastián Piñera had at least on thing going for him during last month’s state of the nation address: silence. Unlike in 2011, when hecklers interrupted him on several occasions, attendees for this year’s May 21 speech – an annual tradition in Chile – kept their mouths shut, giving the former businessman ample opportunity to sell the public on the merits of his two-and-a-half-year-old government.

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.

Ortega Out In Front Ahead Of Nicaragua Elections

(Courtesy of Flickr/Gobierno Republica de Ecuador)

With Nicaragua’s general election now just six months away, leaders of the country’s fractured opposition continue to save their best punches not for incumbent President Daniel Ortega of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), but for each other.

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.