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The Concertación's Defeat in Chile's 2009–2010 Presidential Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Mauricio Morales Quiroga
Mauricio Morales Quiroga*
Affiliation:
Universidad Diego Portales, university’s Instituto de Ciencias Sociales
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Abstract

The Concertación lost the recent presidential elections in Chile after 20 years in office. This article proposes three explanations for this result. First, the Concertación's candidate selection process through primaries was exclusionary, without opening up participation to all potential applicants. This combined with a deep erosion of the coalition, reflected in the resignation of deputies and senators from parties that compose it. The process was accelerated with the emergence of an independent candidate, formerly from the Concertación. Second, the candidate from the right increased his vote in the poorest sectors and expanded the right's constituency to middle-class segments, traditional Concertación electoral strongholds. Third, the right achieved greater electoral consistency than the Concertación by reducing the number of voters who split their tickets. Its presidential candidate obtained almost the same percentage as its list of deputies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , Summer 2012 , pp. 79 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2012

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