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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001210 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL SNAR EFIN CI
SUBJECT: Santiago Dec. 12-14 Media Report 
 
Lead Story 
 
¶1.   Results of Sunday's presidential election:  Right-wing 
Sebastian Pinera 44.03%; center-left ruling coalition candidate 
Eduardo Frei 29.62%; independent Marco Enriquez-Ominami 20.12%, and 
Socialist Party candidate Jorge Arrate 6.21%.  This means that 
Pinera and Frei will go to a runoff on January 17.  In the 
congressional election, the ruling coalition lost its majority in 
the Chamber of Deputies, but recovered it in the Senate (All 
dailies, 12/14). 
 
 
 
Presidential Election 
 
¶2.   Pinera's team believes that one third of those who voted for 
Enriquez-Ominami in the first round will vote for its candidate in 
the runoff  (Conservative, influential El Mercurio, 12/14). 
 
 
 
¶3.   Since the onset of democracy in 1989, no other independent 
candidate had received more votes than Enriquez-Ominami on Sunday. 
However, none of the candidates that he supported for Congress won. 
In his concession speech yesterday, Enriquez-Ominami said both Frei 
and Pinera represent leaders of "the past" and not the future. 
"Neither is the expression of a better country," he said. Socialist 
Jorge Arrate received more votes than any other left-wing coalition 
candidate since the return of democracy (El Mercurio). 
 
 
 
¶4.   Pinera's runoff campaign will focus on change, youth, and the 
middle class.  Frei, on the other hand, will try to "polarize" the 
election as much as possible to relive the antagonism and results 
of the 1988 "Yes/No" plebiscite (Conservative, independent La 
Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
¶5.   43.9% of men voted for Pinera; 30.45 for Frei; 18.7% for 
Enriquez-Ominami, and 6.8% for Arrate;  44.1% of women voted for 
Pinera, 28.8% for Frei, 21.3% for Enriquez-Ominami, and 5.6% for 
Arrate.  The abstention rate was 13.88% (La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
¶6.   The results of the presidential and parliamentary election are 
a big blow for the ruling coalition.  Pinera not only received a 
percentage that is considered very hard to surpass, his coalition 
also won the highest number of seats in Congress, and a large 
number of women -- presumably Bachelet's "captive" voters -- voted 
for him (La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
¶7.   With Enriquez-Ominami out of the election, Pinera can now 
recover his place as the candidate who represents change.  Frei, on 
the other hand, is facing his worst scenario and will try to 
conquer those who voted for Enriquez-Ominami.  He will do this by 
confronting Pinera on the relationship between business and 
politics, human rights issues, and by warning about social problems 
with an eventual right-wing government (La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
Parliamentary Election 
 
¶8.   The ruling coalition lost its majority in the Chamber of 
Deputies (57 versus 58 seats) and right- wing UDI party has now the 
largest representation in the Chamber (23.1%).  The Socialist Party 
lost several seats (La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
¶9.   The ruling coalition recovered the majority in the Senate with 
19 senators.  The opposition alliance has 17 seats (El Mercurio, 
12/14). 
 
 
 
¶10. An agreement with the ruling coalition allowed the Communist 
Party to elect three representatives to the Chamber of Deputies. 
This is the first time the CP has representation in Congress since 
the onset of democracy in 1990 (La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
¶11. The Christian Democratic has now majority representation in 
Congress: 19 deputies and 9 senators.  The number of women in the 
Senate increased from two to six, the largest number since 1990. 
Of the 18 elected senators, 12 are newcomers.  This means that 2/3 
thirds of senators in office for the next eight years are new (El 
Mercurio, 12/14). 
 
 
 
Commentaries 
 
¶12. "The question has been answered.  Frei and Pinera will face 
each other in a runoff.  But although Pinera has a comfortable 
advantage, he did not reach the tipping point that would have left 
him with the victory in his pocket" (Eugenio Tironi, El Mercurio, 
12/14). 
 
 
 
¶13. "If the (ruling) Concertacion coalition wants to stay in 
power... it must start to look for Enriquez-Ominami's support and 
of those political leaders who support him.... This election 
clearly shows that the Concertacion is still a strong political 
force and that the right, in spite of having a moderate and modern 
candidate, does not have the ability to attract a majority" 
(Political commentator Patricio Navia, La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
¶14. "The Concertacion had never before faced such a radical and 
inextricable threat such as the percentage obtained by Pinera 
(Ascanio Cavallo, La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
¶15. Editorial "The message of the presidential and congressional 
election is that Chileans want change, where the renewal of leaders 
is a priority....  There is much at stake here.  On the one hand 
there is the possibility that the ruling coalition might stay in 
power after two decades in office.  The other is that a 
center-right coalition will occupy La Moneda for the first time in 
50 years. It is important that both sides defend their positions 
using good tools, but it is also important that they put the 
interest of the country above everything else" (La Tercera, 12/14). 
 
 
 
 
U.S. - Latin America 
 
¶16. Headline:" Secretary Hillary Clinton calls on Venezuela and 
Nicaragua to stay on democratic path."  The Secretary warned 
countries in the hemisphere to "think twice" before approaching 
Iran. The secretary defended the U.S. reaction to the coup in 
Honduras stating that her country had used a "pragmatic and 
multilateral approach of principles," to restore democracy in that 
country. She urged Latin American countries to stay on the 
democratic path and expressed the U.S. concern with legitimately 
elected leaders who after elected undermine democratic order and 
people's rights (El Mercurio, 12/12). 
SIMONS