With the second round of elections of governors in Chile, the new regional map was made up of 10 regions in the hands of the former Concertación (Constituent Unity), including the capital, three for independent candidates, two for the Broad Front and one for the ruling coalition led by acting President Sebastián Piñera.The central point was in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago , the most important district in the country, where Christian Democrat Claudio Orrego became the first governor elected in this territory with 52.3% of the vote, compared to 47.7% for Karina Oliva of the Frente Amplio, a new left-wing alliance. Before the Metropolitan Region was defined, the other 12 districts in play had already been practically defined and, as happened in the first round, the first conclusion at the national level is that the ruling party led by President Sebastián Piñera suffered a new and harsh defeat.
The candidate of the Chile Vamos alliance, which includes the four forces of the ruling coalition at the national level, Luciano Rivas, won with 57.86% of the vote, far from Eugenio Tuma of the center-left Party for Democracy, with 42.14%. In line with the May elections, independents once again became central players in this new political map that is shaping up ahead of the presidential elections in November. Independent candidates won three regions: Miguel Vargas in Atacama with almost 60% of the vote against the representative of the Constituent Unity coalition that nucleated the parties that used to be part of the Concertación; the ecologist Krist Naranjo in Coquimbo with more than 62% of the vote against the Pinochetist Independent Democratic Union (UDI), and Rodrigo Díaz in Biobio with more than 71% against another leader of the UDI. The center-left of the Constituent Unity, more closely linked to traditional parties such as the Christian Democracy (DC) and the Socialist Party (PS), which in May were hit hard, performed better.
DC candidates won in Arica and Parinacota, Maule and De los Lagos, while socialists in Ñuble, De los Ríos and Libertador Bernardo O’Higgings. In the first of these regions, with 87 percent counted, Jorge Diaz of the DC won with more than 57 percent over Enrique Lee of the ruling center-right alliance. In Maule, meanwhile, Cristina Bravo won with more than 57% over the independent Francisco Pulgar, with more than 94% scrutinised. And finally, in the Lakes region, Patricio Vallespin won with more than 62% over a candidate from Piñera’s party, Ricardo Kuschel, who won more than 37%.
