Pinera wins first round of Chile election

T TV Monday 20/November/2017 13:33 PM
By: Times News Service

Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera will face centre-left Senator Alejandro Guillier in a runoff for Chile's presidency next month, after a first round vote on Sunday (November 19) that Pinera won, but with fewer votes than expected. No reporter narration.
Both candidates would keep in place the top copper exporter's long-standing free-market economic model, but former president Pinera has promised investor-friendly policies to turbocharge growth, while Guillier wants to press on with outgoing President Michelle Bachelet's overhaul of education, taxes and labour.
With over 98 per cent of votes counted, Pinera, a 67-year-old businessman, had clinched 36.6 percent, falling short of the 50 percent needed for an outright victory, Chile's electoral agency Servel said.
Guillier, a 64-year-old bearded former TV news anchor elected to the Senate in 2013, had 22.7 percent, just over two points ahead of the third placed candidate, leftist Beatriz Sanchez, whose better than expected showing will likely ensure her Frente Amplio coalition will yield sway in Congress.