Chile's Election Fails to Inspire Voters as Turnout Hits New Low

(Bloomberg) -- Chilean voters were spoiled for choice in Sunday’s presidential election, with candidates ranging from a right-wing, religious fundamentalist to someone who sounds suspiciously like a Stalinist. That choice failed to spark a revival in voter participation.

A lower percentage of the voting age population cast a ballot in the first round of the election than at any time since the return of democracy in 1990.

Of those who did vote, 36.6 percent backed billionaire and former President Sebastian Pinera, according to the latest count from the electoral service, compared with 22.7 percent for the ruling coalition candidate Alejandro Guillier. The two will now go to a runoff vote on Dec. 17.

A string of allegations over illegal political funding has disillusioned many investors and undermined faith in the political parties that have dominated the political scene for three decades. The electorate is becoming increasingly hard to please.

Voter apathy is likely to become even more stark in the second round, which typically attracts fewer people.

Pinera or Guillier are likely to win the backing of a smaller share of the voting-age population than any other president since 1970. That year, the Socialist leader Salvador Allende came to power with the support of just 20.3 percent of the electorate. He was toppled three years later in a military coup.

While no one is forecasting a repeat of that debacle, winning an ever dwindling share of the electorate does ultimately undermine any president’s mandate, especially if they try to push for change. Pinera’s first government from 2010 to 2014 was marred by a wave of student demonstrations that brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets.

Should he win again, “there are good reasons to believe the protests will return,” said Kenneth Bunker, director of the electoral program at Universidad Central. “There is going to be a divisive illegitimacy to the system and people are going to think he is an unrepresentative president.”

--With assistance from Laura Millan Lombrana

To contact the reporters on this story: Philip Sanders in Santiago at psanders@bloomberg.net, Javiera Quiroga in Santiago at jquiroga5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.