2013 Chilean Presidential Election
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

General elections were held in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
on 17 November 2013, including presidential, parliamentary and regional elections. Voters went to the polls to elect: * A President of the Republic to serve a four-year term. * Twenty out of 38 members of the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
to serve an eight-year term in the National Congress. * The full 120 members of the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
to serve a four-year term in the National Congress. * The full 278 members of the regional boards to serve a four-year term. All the newly elected authorities began their terms on 11 March 2014. In the presidential election, former president
Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...
fell short of the absolute majority needed for an outright win. In the runoff election, held on 15 December, she beat former senator and Minister of Labor
Evelyn Matthei Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet (born November 11, 1953) is a Chilean politician who served as Minister of Labor and Social Security under Chilean President Sebastián Piñera until July 2013. She was the Independent Democrat Union Party's nominee fo ...
with over 62% of the vote, with turnout significantly lower than in the first round. In the parliamentary elections, the New Majority coalition (backing Bachelet's candidacy) won back control of both chambers of Congress, winning 12 of the 20 contested seats in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, for a total of 21 out of 38 total seats, and 67 of the 120 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
. These were the first presidential and parliamentary elections in which all eligible voters were automatically enrolled, and where voting was no longer mandatory. Members of the regional boards were directly elected for the first time.


Timeline

Notable events and dates. *30 June 2013: Primaries held simultaneously nationwide.
Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...
and
Pablo Longueira Juan Pablo Longueira Montes (born August 12, 1958) is a Chilean right-wing politician and industrial civil engineer who served as Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism of Chile from 2011 to 2013. He was a founding member of the Independent ...
win their respective primaries for president. *17 July 2013: Longueira quits the race. *20 July 2013: UDI picks
Evelyn Matthei Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet (born November 11, 1953) is a Chilean politician who served as Minister of Labor and Social Security under Chilean President Sebastián Piñera until July 2013. She was the Independent Democrat Union Party's nominee fo ...
to replace Longueira. *19 August 2013: Deadline to register candidacies. *9 October 2013: First debate. Bachelet does not participate. *18 October 2013: Campaign advertising starts. *25 October 2013: Radio debate. *29–30 October 2013: Two-day television debate. *14 November 2013: Campaign advertising ends. *17 November 2013: Election takes place. *22 November 2013: The Electoral Service publishes on its website a revised count made by polling officers the day after the election. *1 December 2013: Runoff campaign advertising starts. *3 December 2013: The Election Court (Tricel) publishes the final results of the first round election in the Official Gazette and calls for a runoff election between the top two candidates. *6 December 2013: Radio debate. *10 December 2013: Television debate. *12 December 2013: Runoff campaign advertising ends. *15 December 2013: Runoff election. **Polls close at 6 PM nationwide. **At about 7 PM, Matthei concedes defeat, telling reporters outside her home: "It is clear, she has won". **At about 7:20 PM Matthei gives her concession speech. *17 December 2013: The Electoral Service publishes on its website a revised count made by polling officers the day after the election. *10 January 2014: The Tricel officially proclaims Bachelet as President-Elect during a ceremony in
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
, and publishes the final results of the second round election on its website. *11 March 2014: The President-elect takes office in a ceremony at the National Congress in
Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...
.


Presidential primaries

In December 2012 a law was published allowing political parties or coalitions to define their candidates for president in government-run primary elections. The two main political groups agreed to choose their candidates this way. Former president
Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...
won the New Majority primary with 73% of the vote, while former senator and minister
Pablo Longueira Juan Pablo Longueira Montes (born August 12, 1958) is a Chilean right-wing politician and industrial civil engineer who served as Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism of Chile from 2011 to 2013. He was a founding member of the Independent ...
won the Alliance primary with 51%. Longueira subsequently quit the race and was replaced with
Evelyn Matthei Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet (born November 11, 1953) is a Chilean politician who served as Minister of Labor and Social Security under Chilean President Sebastián Piñera until July 2013. She was the Independent Democrat Union Party's nominee fo ...
. Sitting president
Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic polit ...
did not stand for re-election due to term limits.


Presidential candidates

List of candidates who officially registered their candidacies at the Electoral Service. All candidacies were accepted on 28 August 2013. Bachelet's candidacy was automatically accepted after she was proclaimed the winner of her primary by the Election Court.


Unsuccessful candidacies

* Eduardo Díaz (Ind.): The former mayor of
Toltén Toltén is a Chilean commune located at the lower flows Toltén River at the southern coast of Cautín Province which is part of Araucanía Region. The commune is administered by the municipality Nueva Toltén, the main harbour and town within t ...
and founder of the Party of the South (now defunct) is supported by the ''Alianza Independiente Regionalista'' (AIRE) movement. By July 2013 he said he had collected around 28 thousand signatures. However, he did not officially register his candidacy before the legal deadline of 19 August 2013. *
Pablo Longueira Juan Pablo Longueira Montes (born August 12, 1958) is a Chilean right-wing politician and industrial civil engineer who served as Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism of Chile from 2011 to 2013. He was a founding member of the Independent ...
(
UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People * Udi Gal (born 1979), Israeli Olympic sailor * Udi Vaks (born 1979), Israeli Olympic judoka ...
): The former Minister of Economy and senator became the Alliance candidate for president after he beat
Andrés Allamand Andrés Allamand Zavala (born February 7, 1956), a Chilean politician, is the founder and one of the past leaders of Renovación Nacional. He is of French, and Basque descent. On January 14, 2011 he was named Minister of Defense by president Se ...
from the National Renewal party in a two-party primary held on 30 June 2013. However, on 17 July 2013 he unexpectedly quit the race after being diagnosed with depression. * Gustavo Ruz (Ind.): Sociologist and founder of the
Movement for a Constituent Assembly Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
was selected by said group as their candidate on 14 May 2013. On 19 August 2013 he stepped out of the race, having collected only 27 thousand signatures out of the necessary 36 thousand.


Opinion polls for presidential race


First-round scenarios


Second-round scenarios


Bachelet vs. Matthei


Presidential campaign


Debates


First round

The first debate was organized by ANP (National Press Association) and
CNN Chile CNN Chile (abbreviated as CNN CL) is a Chilean pay television news channel launched on 4 December 2008. It was originally a joint venture between VTR Chile and Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel is based in Santiago, Chile. It is the local versi ...
and took place in
Coquimbo Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than ...
's Enjoy Casino on 9 October. It ran from 20:00-22:00 with all candidates —except Bachelet, citing a prior commitment— participating. It was moderated by CNN Chile anchor Daniel Matamala. There were four other journalists from regional media present who asked the candidates two randomly selected questions. Matamala also asked two questions, which were the same to all eight candidates. A radio debate organized by the Radio Broadcasters Association of Chile (Archi), took place on 25 October 2013 at the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Centre (GAM) in Santiago. The debate, which featured all nine candidates for the first time, was broadcast by over 600 radio stations across the country. It started at 8 AM and lasted for about 140 minutes. It was moderated by Archi president Luis Pardo and included four radio journalists: Sergio Campos (Cooperativa), Cony Stipicic (Duna), Mauricio Bustamente (Infinita) and Alejandro de la Carrera (Agricultura). A series of two consecutive televised debates were organized by the National Television Association (Anatel) and broadcast by all national terrestrial television stations. All nine candidates participated, as well. The first part of the debate aired on 29 October 2013, with a second part transmitted the next day. Both shows took place at TVN's studios in Santiago, beginning at 10 PM and running for over two hours. Former Anatel president Bernardo Donoso served as moderator. The journalists for the first day were Constanza Santa María (Canal 13), Soledad Onetto (Mega) and Claudio Elórtegui (UCV-TV); while the journalists for the second day were Beatriz Sánchez (La Red), Iván Núñez (Chilevisión) and Mauricio Bustamante (TVN).


Runoff

A radio debate on 6 December 2013 was organized by Archi. A television debate organized by Anatel was held 10 December 2013.


Results


President


Senate

Senators are elected for eight-year mandates, and roughly half of the Senate is renewed every four years. On this election, ten out of 19 senatorial constituencies were contested. As each constituency elects two representatives, this results in 20 new senators.


Chamber of Deputies


Regional boards

''Provisional results including 99.92% of ballot boxes.'' There were 41,349 ballot boxes for the regional boards election. The results above are a revised count made by the polling officers the following day.


Reactions

Following the result of the first round election, Bachelet said: "We knew that it would be tough to win on the first round, we worked really hard, and we almost did it. We did win tonight, and we are going to work hard to win comfortably in December." Following the first round, both candidates offered no change in aggressive campaigning for the second round except to include young MPs elected in their campaign. Matthei did however compare her politices that of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...
and Bachelet's to that of the former
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. While Green Ecologist Party's candidate Alfredo Sfeir was the only losing first-round candidate to back one of the two second-round candidates, in his case Michelle Bachelet, independent candidate
Franco Parisi Franco Aldo Parisi Fernández (born 25 August 1967) is a Chilean Business engineering, business engineer and economist. He received recognition for doing radio and television programs about economy along with his brother Antonino Parisi, and has ...
said "Bachelet will be a great President, (...) Matthei would do bad for Chile, she is not to be trusted." U.S. President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
spoke with Bachelet, while the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
issued a statement that read: "The President expressed his desire to continue strengthening the relationship between the United States and Chile, building on the close partnership he enjoyed with President-elect...The President looks forward to working closely with President-elect Bachelet to advance our shared interests in the years ahead."


Analysis

Though Bachelet's New Majority gained a majority of seats in the legislature, it failed to gain a four-sevenths majority required to pass legislation for her cornerstone education reform, which was the reason for mass mobilisation amidst the ongoing 2011–13 Chilean student protests. They also failed to get a two-thirds majority to restructure the 1981
constitution of Chile The Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile of 1980 () is the fundamental law in force in Chile. It was approved and promulgated under the military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet, being ratified by the Chilean citizenry through ...
enacted during the
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
regime. Wake Forest political science Professor Peter Siavelis suggested: "The ongressional electionsresult will surely be disappointing for Bachelet.
Social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...
s that have spilled onto the streets are demanding reform, yet the limits of the institutional structure of Chile are going to limit her capacity to engage in reform. Even though Bachelet may be the winner tonight she is not in an enviable position." ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' said that Bachelet's "legacy now rides on her ability to craft a coalition for far-reaching structural and particularly political reform." It also questioned what a low turnout could mean for her mandate, which it said was not clear enough as she had to go to a second round. The ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' drew the 40th anniversary of the 11 September coup as a more than subtle backdrop to the election while saying the election was a referendum on Pinochet.


Notes


References


External links


Election results from 1989 to 2012
(Servel) {{Chilean elections
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Elections in Chile Presidential elections in Chile
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
Presidency of Sebastián Piñera