Chile Votes in Bitterly Divisive Presidential Election<br />Mr. Guillier did that Today’s election pits not just the left versus right for the presidency,<br />but also reflects a lighter version of the insider-outsider drama that is developing in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.<br />that Guillier only got 22 percent,<br />17, 2017<br />SANTIAGO, Chile — Voters across Chile began casting ballots in a tight presidential runoff Sunday morning, choosing between a center-left candidate<br />and a billionaire former president, and deciding whether to reverse years of economic and political overhauls.<br />The election pits Alejandro Guillier, 64, a journalist<br />and sociologist of the center-left coalition New Majority, against former President Sebastián Piñera, 68, of the rightist Chile Vamos.<br />The country owes its new political makeup to changes Ms. Bachelet pressed, including gender parity in parties’<br />lists of candidates, a more representative electoral system and tighter controls on campaign finance.<br />Mr. Piñera obtained 36 percent of votes that day, compared with 22 percent for Mr. Guillier; 20 percent for Beatriz Sánchez, of the leftist coalition Frente Amplio<br />that was founded early this year; and 8 percent for José Antonio Kast, a far-right champion of the Pinochet dictatorship.<br />Under Ms. Bachelet’s leadership, taxes on large corporations were raised to finance free higher education for low-income students; abortion in some circumstances was legalized; union rights were strengthened;<br />and a new electoral system allowed minority parties and independent politicians greater representation in Congress.
