He’s been dead for 11 years, but Augusto Pinochet still casts a long shadow over the presidential race in conservative Chile. Though his regime was responsible for some 3,200 dead or missing, 12 per cent of Chileans still consider the military dictator one of the “best leaders” in the country’s history, according to a recent poll
Praising the dead dictator, breaking a Chilean taboo
Center-right billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera received 37 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s first round, well under the 45 per cent pollsters had predicted. He faces a run-off on December 17 against a centre-left candidate who got 23 per cent of the vote. With another leftist getting 20 per cent, Pinera might have to rely on the hard right to prevail in the run-off
The emergence of ultraconservative MP Jose Antonio Kast, who broke a taboo with a speech lauding Pinochet’s rule and exceeded expectations by winning 8 per cent of the vote, has forced Pinera to the right. “The businessman had to toughen his rhetoric to the point that shouts of ‘Viva Pinochet’ rang out during some of his rallies,” AFP reported. Much of Chile continues to value Pinochet’s political and economic legacy. The free-market economic system that he established remains almost intact, as does the constitution that he backed in 1980
Ex-President Pinera changes his stance
Until now, Pinera had always sought to distance himself from Pinochet. In 1988, he voted against Pinochet remaining in power in the referendum that precipitated the fall of the regime. During his previous tenure as president from 2010-14, he accused some on the right of harbouring “passive accomplices” of the dictatorship, according to AFP
Pinochet’s regime fell after the 1988 referendum, but the former dictator still headed the army for eight years, before becoming a senator until 2001. He died of a heart attack in December 2006, without ever having been convicted