Coalition for Change candidate

Sebastián Piñera (RN)

Both Alliance for Chile parties —RN and UDI— chose Sebastián Piñera as their candidate for president, now under the banner of a larger electoral pact, the Coalition for Change, which also includes the newly formed party ChileFirst and other minor groups.

Party pre-candidates

Party	Candidate	Remarks
RN	Sebastián Piñera	Piñera participated in Hernán Büchi's 1989 presidential campaign and was later elected to the Senate. He was a potential presidential nominee in 1993, but his chances were ruined by a conflict with Evelyn Matthei that came to be known as Piñeragate. In 1999 he again attempted to be the nominee, but was defeated in the convention by Joaquín Lavín. In 2005 he shook the political scene by jumping into the first round independently of the UDI. Polls show him narrowly beating Frei in a runoff scenario. He was officially proclaimed by RN on August 8, 2009.[5] He submitted his candidacy to the Electoral Service on September 9, 2009.[6]
UDI	Sebastián Piñera	The UDI officially proclaimed Piñera as its candidate on August 22, 2009.[7] Piñera had been proposed as the party's candidate by the UDI's Consejo Directivo in December 2008.[8] Pre-candidates: Evelyn Matthei: She is the daughter of Air Force General Fernando Matthei, a member of the military junta that took power in the 1973 coup. She was a member of National Renewal, but in 1992 was embroiled in a conflict with Sebastián Piñera, ending with her leaving the party and joining the UDI. She has been mentioned as a potential UDI candidate, considering she is among the leading proponents of having the UDI bring its own candidate to the first round. She has said it would be "fun" to compete against Piñera. Longueira said on October 9, 2008 that she would be an excellent candidate. On October 11, 2008, she said she was willing to run for president.[9] She announced her precandidacy on October 14, 2008.[10] Potential candidates: Joaquín Lavín: He earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago. Afterwards, in 1992, Lavín was elected mayor of Las Condes, a stronghold of the right, with 31% of the vote and reelected in 1997 with 78% of the vote. Lavín was the presidential candidate for the UDI-RN coalition Alliance for Chile in the 1999 election. He eventually lost to PS/PPD candidate Ricardo Lagos in a runoff by 200,000 votes. Lavín again represented UDI in the 2005 presidential election, but ended in third place with 23.23% of the vote, due to the presence of another right-wing candidate in the race, Sebastián Piñera, who made it to the runoff election with 25.41% of the vote. Pablo Longueira urged him to run for a third time for the presidential elections, but he refused and ended up running for a senate seat in the Valparaíso Region which he lost.[11] Hernán Larraín: He is a senator and former president of the UDI. Longueira said on October 9, 2008 that he would be an excellent candidate. Declined candidacies: Hernán Büchi: A possible candidacy by the 1990 presidential candidate generated buzz within the UDI in June 2007. He has however declined a candidacy. Pablo Longueira: The senator officially launched his candidacy on March 30, 2007. He had announced his plans before the 2005 election took place. He stepped down "momentarily" due to "low party support" on May 3, 2007.[12] Jacqueline van Rysselberghe: The mayor of Concepción was proclaimed, on October 11, 2006, as candidate by five UDI deputies from the Biobío Region. She has refused to campaign for the nomination, however, preferring to concentrate on her 2008 campaign for reelection as mayor. She was reelected as Concepción mayor in October 2008.
CH1	Sebastián Piñera	ChileFirst decided to support Piñera on March 29, 2009 after its leader, senator Fernando Flores, declined to run for president.[13] It officially proclaimed him on August 15, 2009.[14] Declined candidacies: Fernando Flores: The former minister of Salvador Allende and current senator launched a failed presidential bid for the 2005 election. He resigned from the PPD in early 2007 and launched a new party, ChileFirst. On March 29, 2009 ChileFirst decided to support Piñera after Flores declined to run for president.[13]

Concertación candidate

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (PDC)

The Concertación selected former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle from the Christian Democrat Party as its single candidate for president. The selection process involved a single regional primary on April 5, 2009 in the Maule and O'Higgins regions between Frei and José Antonio Gómez Urrutia from the Social Democrat Radical Party. Frei won with 65% versus 35% for Gómez. Had the percentage difference between both candidates been less than 20%, the selection process would have continued with additional primaries in other regions until May 17. Frei was legally proclaimed as presidential candidate by the PPD on August 1, 2009[15] and by the PDC, PS and PRSD on August 22, 2009.[16] He submitted his candidacy to the Electoral Service on September 12, 2009.[17]

Party pre-candidates

Each Concertación party selected its own pre-candidate for president. Only Frei and Gómez submitted their candidacies before the January 26, 2009 deadline.

Party	Candidate	Remarks
PRSD	José Antonio Gómez Urrutia	He was proclaimed by his party on November 13, 2008. He had announced his pre-candidacy two days earlier.[18]
PDC	Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle	He was proclaimed by his party on December 13, 2008.[19] Other candidates: Pablo Lorenzini: On December 16, 2008, he said he was supporting Frei's candidacy.[20] Marcelo Trivelli: He announced his candidacy on June 10, 2007 during a television interview. Despite his lack of a support base, he declared himself the candidate of "honesty and sincerity" and respect towards the Constitution.[21] Trivelli received heavy criticism from his own party because of his decision to run, and many party members declared it was not the appropriate time for candidacies.[22] Trivelli has embarked on a number of trips around the country in order to create enough support to sustain his candidacy.[23] Declined candidacy: Soledad Alvear: She was constantly mentioned as a potential contender in 2009 ever since she resigned from her candidacy in favor of Bachelet. Her supporters, the alvearistas, controlled most of the PDC institutions and she commanded widespread support in the party, despite the vocal opposition of fellow Senator Adolfo Zaldívar. On December 6, 2007, she was unofficially proclaimed a presidential candidate by Christian Democrat deputy Pablo Lorenzini.[24] She declared herself a candidate on June 23, 2008 during a television interview.[25] On October 28, 2008, she stepped out of the race for the presidency and resigned as PDC president after disappointing results in the municipal elections held two days earlier.
PS	Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle	The PS selected Frei as its candidate on January 17, 2009. He was the only person to submit a candidacy to the PS presidential convention. Declined candidacies: José Miguel Insulza: He declared himself a candidate on December 12, 2008.[26] He, however, declined his candidacy on January 5, 2009, and gave his support to Frei. Ricardo Lagos: His government was highly popular and his term ended with approval ratings around 60-70%. Various supporters urged him to run again in 2009. However, his popularity has lately seen a sharp fall due to the catastrophic new transport system (Transantiago), planned under his presidency. Lagos has declared all doors are open to him, but has refused to confirm whether he will participate. In March 2008, he said it was unbecoming as a former head of state to participate in a primary and would refuse to do so.[27] On November 8, 2008, he was proclaimed unanimously by the PPD's National Directive as its candidate, but Lagos never accepted the nomination.[28] On December 2, 2008, the PPD officially proclaimed Lagos as its candidate for the presidency.[29] However, two days later, Lagos ruled out running for the presidency, stating in a press conference "I am not, nor will I be, a presidential candidate".[30]
PPD	Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle	The PPD selected Frei as its candidate on January 24, 2009, with 296 votes from the party's National Council, against seven for PRSD candidate José Antonio Gómez Urrutia.[31] Other candidates: Sergio Bitar: In a May 4, 2007 interview with La Tercera, he said he was willing to be his party's presidential nominee if there was enough support.[32] On November 7, 2008 he said that he is "without a doubt" willing to compete eventually for the presidency, but only if Ricardo Lagos's candidacy does not prosper.[33] He declined his candidacy on November 10, 2008, following Lagos's proclamation by his party.[34] Now that Lagos is out of the race, he may attempt a second run. Nicolás Eyzaguirre: He has said that he could participate if Lagos declines to, but he remained silent after Lagos declined his candidacy. Ricardo Lagos: On December 4, 2008 he ruled out running for the presidency, stating in a press conference "I am not, nor will I be, a presidential candidate".[30]
Independent candidates	None	Failed candidacies: Marco Enríquez-Ominami: On December 15, 2008, he announced he was available to compete with Insulza in a Socialist Party primary.[35] He, however, did not submit his candidacy to the PS presidential convention. On January 9, 2009, he agreed to compete in the Concertación primaries as independent after gaining the support of some council people and legislators.[36]

Primary results

Main article: Concertación presidential primary, 2009

The primary was carried out on April 5, 2009 in the Maule and O'Higgins regions. Frei became the single Concertación candidate by beating Gómez by a 20-point lead, cancelling the need for further regional primaries.

Final results.^[37]

Candidate	Party	Votes	%	Result
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle	DC	40,140	64.90	Concertación candidate
José Antonio Gómez Urrutia	PRSD	21,703	35.09
Valid votes		61,843	100
Null votes		222	0.35
Blank votes		317	0.50
Total votes		62,382	100

Juntos Podemos candidate

Jorge Arrate (Communist Party of Chile)

The Juntos Podemos Más coalition of far-left parties selected former Socialist Party member Jorge Arrate as its sole candidate for president on April 25, 2009. He was officially proclaimed as candidate on April 26, 2009.[38] In July 2009, after his candidacy lost the support of the Humanist Party, he became a member of the Communist Party in order to comply with the law and run for president. He submitted his candidacy to the Electoral Service on September 9, 2009.[39]

Party pre-candidates

Party	Candidate	Remarks
PCCh	Guillermo Teillier	Teillier launched his candidacy on September 26, 2008. He said he is willing to step down in order to put forward a single candidate for the Juntos Podemos coalition of left-parties.[40] In November 2008 he said he would be willing to participate in a primary between him, Hirsch and Alejandro Navarro, who had quit the Socialist Party.[41] Teillier stepped down as Juntos Podemos pre-candidate on April 25, 2009, giving his support to Jorge Arrate, saying he was the right person according to the country's political moment.
PH	Tomás Hirsch	Hirsch was among the founders of the Humanist Party and vied unsuccessfully for seats in the Chamber of Deputies as part of the Concertación. In 1993, the PH broke off from the coalition. In 1999 he was the Humanist presidential candidate, but lost in the first round. In 2005, he again participated in the presidential campaign, now with the additional support of the communists. He garnered a little over 5% of the vote. In an interview with Biobío Radio on September 1, 2007, Hirsch criticized the Concertación and the Alianza and declared that he would he "happy to be a candidate" if the members of his coalition agree.[42] On June 7, 2008 he announced he intended to run for the presidency for the third time as the PH candidate, under the Juntos Podemos umbrella.[43]
Independent (Socialista-allendista)	Jorge Arrate	Arrate is a member of the more leftist faction of the PS and had been mentioned as a potential candidate in an alliance of this faction and the Juntos Podemos Más pact. He formally announced his candidacy on January 27, 2008, pressured by a group of socialists opposed to the Socialist Party leadership.[44] On November 20, 2008, Arrate was proclaimed as candidate by a group of Socialist Party Central Committee members.[45] Arrate resigned from the PS on January 14, 2009.[46] He was proclaimed as presidential candidate on January 18, 2009 by a group of Socialist Party members, the so-called "socialistas-allendistas.[47]

Primary results

The election to define the sole Juntos Podemos candidate was carried out on April 25, 2009 in Santiago. Arrate beat Hirsch and became the single Juntos Podemos candidate.

Final results.^[48]

Candidate	Party	Votes	%	Result
Jorge Arrate	Ind.	1,145	77.57	Juntos Podemos candidate
Tomás Hirsch	PH	331	22.42
Valid votes		1,476	100
Null votes		6	0.40
Blank votes		2	0.13
Total votes		1,484	100

Independent candidate

Marco Enríquez-Ominami (Ind.)

On December 15, 2008, he announced he was available to compete with Insulza in a Socialist Party primary.[35] He, however, did not submit his candidacy to the PS presidential convention. On January 9, 2009, he agreed to compete in the Concertación primaries as independent after gaining the support of some council people and legislators.[36] He did not submit his candidacy, however. Instead he is running as an independent and as of August, 2009, polling above 20% and thus threatening to displace one of the coalition-backed candidates in the expected run-off election. He was proclaimed candidate by the Humanist and Ecologist parties plus several other leftist groups under the banner of a new electoral pact, a New Majority for Chile, on September 13, 2009.[49] He submitted his candidacy to the Electoral Service on September 10, 2009.[50]

Unsuccessful candidacies

• Eduardo Artés (PC (AP)): He was proclaimed as a Juntos Podemos Más pre-candidate by the Communist Party (Proletarian Action) on December 7, 2007.^[51] However, on July 26, 2008, the PC (AP) left the Juntos Podemos Más pact, accusing them of abandoning their founding principles in light of the pact's electoral deal with the Concertación for the upcoming October municipal elections.^[52] He quit his candidacy in July 2009. He said his candidacy was just an opportunity to present new ideas to the country, as going through with the candidacy would be too economically onerous.^[53]
• Leonardo Farkas (Ind.): A mining businessman.^[54] On December 5, 2008, he announced he was giving up his presidential candidacy.^[55]
• Pamela Jiles (Ind.): Journalist and television presenter. She announced her candidacy in February 2009 through a column in The Clinic magazine.^[56] On September 4, 2009 she stepped out of the race in support of Navarro.^[57] In the same election, she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the lower chamber of Congress.
• Luis Molina Vega (Ind.)^[58] A civil engineer from Tomé. Molina stepped out of the race in July 2009, due to low support.^[59]
• Alejandro Navarro (MAS): Navarro used to characterize himself as a leader in the "dissident" faction of the Socialist Party, which harshly criticized what they called the "neoliberal" economic model, supporting instead Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. Despite his involvement in a scandal due to his participation in a protest organized by the Unitary Workers Central where he attacked a policeman, with the possibility of being expelled from the Senate being considered, Navarro declared himself to be a presidential candidate in 2008. In November 2008, he quit the Socialist Party to form a new party called Broad Social Movement (MAS). He said his candidacy was necessary to "stop Piñera from winning in the first round", and still considered himself a Socialist.^[60] The MAS party proclaimed him its candidate on November 11, 2008; the party, however, was still open to stage a primary between all leftist candidates that were not part of the Concertación.^[61] Navarro has proposed to hold the primary in April 2009.^[62] On May 5, 2009 Navarro said he would step out of the race and support Arrate if polls released from then to September show the Juntos Podemos Más candidate having an advantage of seven points over him. He didn't rule out Arrate then supporting Enríquez-Ominami, if his candidacy was the strongest.^[63] Navarro was proclaimed as the official MAS candidate on July 25, 2009 with the support of other minor left groups.^[64] He submitted his candidacy to the Electoral Service on September 14, 2009.^[65] On September 22, 2009 Navarro withdrew his candidacy and gave his support to Enríquez-Ominami.^[66]
• Adolfo Zaldívar (PRI): The former president of the Christian Democratic Party and a Senator at the time of his nomination, lost the last internal PDC primary to Alvear. He is the brother of senator and former Interior Minister Andrés Zaldívar. He was expelled from the PDC in December 2007, later becoming part of the Regionalist Party of the Independents (PRI). He announced his intention to run as president representing that party, and was proclaimed so on April 26, 2009.^[67] This decision was ratified on August 29, 2009.^[68] He stepped out of the race on September 14, 2009, just hours before the deadline for submission.^[69]

Concertación and Juntos Podemos Más

The Former presidents of Chile, together in a Concertación Conference in 2009.

The A list conformed after the union of two political coalitions that had taken part separately in the elections of 2005. On one hand the Concertación, which was grouping to the center-left parties that since 1990 governed the country. In the other hand the left-wing Juntos Podemos Más, that it suffered an internal division after the exit of the Humanist Party.

The reason of this strange union was, the Binomial System that get out the political left from the National Congress since 1994.

The largest party inside the A list was the Christian Democrats, with the leadership of Juan Carlos Latorre who was chief of the Eduardo Frei's presidential campaign. The Socialists joined with the senator Camilo Escalona, PPD with the deputy Pepe Auth. The Radicals led by Senator Gómez, and the Communist Party with the leadership of Guillermo Teillier.

Coalition for Change

Presentation of the Coalition for the Change. Fernando Flores speaks.

The Alliance for Chile for the elections of 2009, began with an important step, by means of I arrive of two precandidates, one of them the senator Pablo Longueira, and the mayor of Concepción, Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, both of the Independent Democratic Union, who demonstrated his availability of postulating to this post, using the regular conduits inside the coalition, nevertheless, both rejected such an option to present only a presidential candidate, who would be Sebastián Piñera.

In March, 2009, two Congressmen of the Alliance for Chile obtained the speaker of the Senate and the speaker of the Deputies' Chamber, by means of an agreement with the independent bench and with the Concert, respectively. The above mentioned agreements were not lacking in polemic, since the Senator who postulated the alliance to preside at the above mentioned organism, Jovino Novoa, was harshly criticized for personeros of the Concert in view of his past as member of Augusto Pinochet Ugarte's military regime.

In spite of the critiques, the Alliance for Chile awarded a political victory on having presided at both chambers of the National Congress and some of the most influential commissions of the same one, which, they waited in the conglomerate opponent, he was benefiting Sebastián Piñera's candidacy.

After having integrated the list Clean Chile, Vote Happy, one was generated fail between the charter members of ChileFirst with regard to the position that would take the party opposite to the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2009. Whereas Jorge Schaulsohn and Senator Flores supported the candidate of the Alliance for Chile Sebastián Piñera,^[70] the deputy Esteban Valenzuela rejected to join with the center-right and resigned ChileFirst to endorse Marco Enríquez-Ominami's candidacy.^[71] The support to Piñera on the part of ChileFirst was made official on May 6, 2009, when one presented the "Coalition for the Change", electoral agreement between the Alliance for Chile, ChileFirst and other political minor movements.

New Majority for Chile

New Majority for Chile was a political coalition that grouped the Ecologist party of Chile, the Humanist Party of Chile, and diverse political and independent movements that supported the candidacy of the independent Marco Enríquez-Ominami for the presidential election of 2009. Between the movements and groups without political legal constitution that they it shaped are the Regionalist Movement,^[72] the Movement Unified of Sexual Minorities (MUMS),^[73] the Movement SurDA and the Progressist Network.^[74]

Presidential election

List of opinion polls released within a year of the election. Only responses from persons registered to vote are shown.

President

On December 20, 2009, the Juntos Podemos Más coalition gave his support to Eduardo Frei's candidacy, after the former president agreed to include a number of policies into his government program.^[78] Two days later, Jorge Arrate also gave his full support to Frei.^[79] On January 13, 2010 Enríquez-Ominami held a press conference to state he would vote for Frei, although he did not say his name.^[80] He had previously said that voting for Piñera would be a regression and voting for Frei would not be an advancement.

Candidate Eduardo Frei casting his ballot in La Unión on December 13, 2009.

Ballots of the first round of the presidential election (in yellow) and the parliamentary election (in white).

Ballot of the runoff

Chamber of Deputies

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Concertación & Juntos Podemos		Christian Democratic Party	940,265	14.21	19	–1
			Party for Democracy	839,744	12.69	18	–3
			Socialist Party	653,367	9.88	11	–4
			Social Democratic Radical Party	251,456	3.80	5	–2
			Communist Party of Chile	133,718	2.02	3	+3
			Independents	115,828	1.75	1	–1
		Total		2,934,378	44.35	57	–8
	Coalition for Change		Independent Democratic Union	1,525,000	23.05	37	+4
			National Renewal	1,178,392	17.81	18	–1
			ChileFirst	18,021	0.27	0	New
			Independents	153,261	2.32	3	+1
		Total		2,874,674	43.45	58	+4
	Clean Chile, Vote Happy		Regionalist Independent Party	264,466	4.00	3	+2
			Broad Social Movement	26,440	0.40	0	New
			Independents	65,892	1.00	0	–
		Total		356,798	5.39	3	New
	New Majority for Chile		Humanist Party	95,177	1.44	0	0
			Ecologist Party	3,815	0.06	0	New
			Independents	203,635	3.08	0	–
		Total		302,627	4.57	0	New
	Independents			147,379	2.23	2	+1
Total				6,615,856	100.00	120	0
Valid votes				6,615,856	91.08
Invalid/blank votes				647,681	8.92
Total votes				7,263,537	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				8,285,186	87.67
Source: SERVEL

Senate