Chileans went to the polls today for the second round of presidential elections, and for the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1990, elected a right-winger. Media and football billionaire Sebastián Piñera will become Chile's first democratically-elected right-wing leader for almost half a century.
While this looks to be a significant shift, its worth noting that (as here) the right only won after promising to continue the left's social policies. Unfortunately, with a bar on successive terms as President, the public has no effective way to hold Piñera to that promise - any electoral backlash will be inflicted on someone else. This seems to be an exceptionally poor incentive structure for a democracy.
Meanwhile, outgoing president Michelle Bachelet will leave office with a ridiculously high approval rating. She could almost certainly have another go in four years time if she wanted to - the question is whether she wants to, or whether a single term is enough.
