Bienvenido Pinera: Chile has voted.

The Chilean presidential elections took place this past Sunday. Pinera, la Alianza, won with 52% of the vote, as Frei, El Concertacion only managed to win 48 % of the popular vote. This is the first time that a Rightist has been democratically elected in Chile since Jorge Alessandri, 52 years ago. (Obviously, Pinochet was not quite **democratically elected**. The feelings in Chile right now seem to be comparable to the national sentiments in the United States after Obama won the presidency... almost strikingly so. The reason that Pinera won is because there is a slight majority of Chileans who are sick of the same old order that has governed since Pinochet in 1990. Weeks before this election, many displayed the Pinera star logo, and proudly chanted in every possible place Pinera's rallies: "Sumate! Sumate! Sumate al cambio! Vota para el cambio!" ( Add yourself to the change! Vote for the Change!) Honestly I am still not exactly sure what this "change" entails, and it seems quite vague. Shortly after learning he had won, Sebastian Pinera declared "Hoy, una imensa mayoria de chilenos hablo con claridad, con fuerza, y opto por el cambio, el futuro, y la esperanza". (Today, an large mayority of Chileans spoke with clarity, with strength, and opted for change, the future, and hope). With respect to how Chileans voted overall: An independent, Ominami, who had run in the first round months prior, had been eliminated because he had obtained less votes than Frei and Pinera. (In this round, only the top two (Frei, Pinera,) were voted on, in order to have one gain a majority.) The majority of the voters who had voted for Ominami in the first round, cast their votes for Pinera, this round, lending him quite an advantage. Pinera gained more votes in 10 of the capital cities, (Arica, Iquique, Valparaiso, Santiago, Rancagua, Concepcion, Temuco, Puerto Montt, Coyhaique, and Punta Arenas.) While, Frei, only won in 5 capital cities, (Antofagasta, Copiapo, La Serena, Valdivia, and Talca). Pinera won every community in two regions, Tarapaca, and Aisen, two sparsely populated regions in the far north and south, respectively. In various sectors of Santiago, (Pucon, Las Condes,) Pinera won roughly 70 %. (Santiago is integral, considering it contains roughly 60% of the Chilean population). Surprisingly for me, in my region, Region VI, Region O'Higgins, where Rengo is, a few more people voted for Frei than for Pinera. I thought that Pinera would win for sure, considering the excitement about him was imminent: the number of lifesize Sebastian Pinera cardboard cutouts were endless, as were the Pinera stars being handed out every day, as were the words "Sumate! Sumate! Sumate!" being yelled through the streets..." I not once saw any cardboard cutout of Eduardo Frei, and I don't know if he had a logo like Pinera did...he probably did have one too, but it just goes to show as evidence of how apathetic Chileans were about his return that I don't even know what his logo was...) The 48% that did vote for him most likely still believe in the ideals behind the groups in El Concertacion, and begrudgingly voted for an uninspiring politician who unfortunately was the one to represent these ideals. El Concertacion is in desperate need of a makeover.


**When I write Pinera, the n should be an "enye"...I just have no idea how to write that on this keyboard...just for future reference**