(Bloomberg) -- Voting has closed in the second round of Chile’s presidential election that is too close to call after billionaire Sebastian Pinera failed to win a commanding lead in the first round, roiling the local stock market.
Polling stations closed at 6 p.m. (4 p.m. EST), with the first official results expected about an hour later from the Electoral Service. There are no exit polls in Chile.
Ruling coalition candidate Alejandro Guillier has spent the month since the first round of voting trying to rally support from a disparate group of more than 17 parties across the center-left of the political spectrum. The task of former President Sebastian Pinera has been more simple, ensuring that his supporters in the two principal right-wing parties come out to vote, while trying to dissuade those in the center from backing Guillier. The vote may now go down to the wire.
“It is an election with high levels of uncertainty,” said Mauricio Morales, direct of the Center for Political Analysis at Universidad de Talca. “Everything indicates it is going to be very close, but Chileans could surprise us and give us an early winner.”
Pinera won 36.6 percent of the vote in the first round against 22.7 percent for Guillier and 20.3 percent for Beatriz Sanchez, head of the newly created left-wing Frente Amplio alliance. Sanchez has since pledged her support for Guillier, as has the Christian Democrat candidate Carolina Goic, who won 5.9 percent. Jose Antonio Kast, who garnered 7.9 percent, has endorsed Pinera.
Confident Candidates
“We are going to win by a narrow but clear margin,” Guillier said today. “The country is in the mood for renewal.”
Pinera was equally confident. "We are very hopeful because I firmly believe that we are going to win the elections.”
The benchmark IPSA stock index tumbled 5.9 percent the day after the first round of voting on Nov. 19, and dropped as much as 9 percent over the next two weeks. The business confidence index also declined for the first time in four months in November, slipping to 47.01 from 48.96 in October.
Pinera has pledged to more than double economic growth, create 600,000 jobs, ease industry regulations and narrow the budget deficit. His manifesto represents a respite for industry after four years of the most radical reforms in three decades under President Michelle Bachelet, including increased corporate taxes and moves to empower labor unions.
By contrast, Guillier had portrayed himself as the continuity of Bachelet’s government with a spending program that he estimates at $10 billion to expand free higher education and boost health-care.
“Under a potential Pinera government we would expect to see the undoing of some aspects of the recent structural reforms, mainly on the labor and fiscal fronts,” Credit Suisse said in a report Friday. “Growth potential over the next four years would likely be higher under Pinera than under Guillier.”
©2017 Bloomberg L.P.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
POPULAR