Sebastián Piñera

Piñera celebrates victory alongside wife and family in 2010.

Piñera ran for President of Chile in the 2009–2010 election.[33] Since August 2009, he led in opinion polls, competing with Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Marco Enríquez-Ominami and Jorge Arrate; all of whom are left-of-center candidates. In 13 December 2009 election, Piñera placed first in the results with 44.05% of the votes, while Frei placed second with 29.6% of the votes.[34] Neither candidate received more than half of the total votes; therefore, according to the Constitution, Chileans returned to the polls for a final run-off election on Sunday, 17 January 2010.[35]

That evening, the third and final preliminary results were announced by the Deputy Interior Ministry. These showing accounted for 99.77% of the total ballot boxes. Of the votes, Piñera received 51.61% and Frei received 48.39%.[36]

Piñera meeting with Michelle Bachelet during the presidential transition

Piñera invested an estimated 13.6 million USD in his presidential campaign, which included items such as a campaign anthem[37] and "Thank You" banners.[38] Piñera's banners and billboards have carried statements throughout the country such as "Delinquents, your party is over," and "Small businesses, Big opportunities".[39] Piñera's campaign released a national TV spot on YouTube featuring a male gay couple, something never seen before in a presidential campaign run in Chile. Amongst his promises were increasing education rates and improving international relations with the neighboring country of Perú.[40]

Piñera's victory meant a shift towards the right,[41] breaking two-decades of center-left political leadership and becoming the first elected right-wing leader in 52 years.[42]

On 28 January, Piñera suspended his membership in National Renewal, becoming unofficially an independent. RN's bylaws require successful presidential candidates from the party to renounce their association in order to govern the country fairly, foremost with the interest of the people, not with the interest of a political party or particular political philosophy.[43]

Piñera became the first billionaire to be sworn into the Chilean Presidency.[44] He offered to sell his shares in major corporations before being sworn in on 11 March 2010, in order to avoid conflicts of interest. Piñera has placed US$400 million in blind trusts.[45]

The Monday following Piñera's election, expectations of sale from his largest holdings created a surge in trade of Axxion and LAN shares, causing three brief suspensions (19–20, 22 January 2010) in the Santiago Stock Exchange in order to ease trade. Axxion shares more than tripled before falling 39% on Friday, 22 January.[46] Bachelet's Finance Minister Andrés Velasco urged Piñera to get the sale "sorted out quickly."[47] The value of Piñera's interest in Axxion was estimated at 700 million dollars USD, of his 1.2 billion dollar USD fortune at the beginning of that week.[48]

On 5 February, Piñera confirmed plans to sell his 26.3% stake in LAN airlines at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting for his main holding company, Axxion. Under the pact, Axxion shareholders have agreed to fix the price of the sale, estimated at US$1.5 billion. The Cueto family, who at that point held 25.5% of LAN through their holding company Costa Verde Aeronáutica, had the first option to purchase the stake.[49] On 18 February, Axxion posted a statement on their website confirming the sale of a 21.18% stake in LAN Airlines to the Cueto family for US$1.23 billion. Announcement regarding the sale of the remaining shares was pending until March 2010, when the whole package left Piñera's hands.[50]

Piñera with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Santiago, 23 March 2019

Piñera sold his 9.7% stake in the upscale private hospital Clinica Las Condes at a price of 25,113 CLP per share (US$48.00) through his holding company Bancard on Tuesday, 16 February. The total sale of the 792,000 shares grossed US$37.85 million and was purchased by the brokerage firm Celfin.[51] The proceeds from the sale will go to paying off Bancard debt.[52]

Piñera with David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, outside 10 Downing Street, London

Piñera announced on February he had the intention to transfer 100% of his stake in Chilevisión to a non-for-profit organization called Fundación Cultura y Sociedad (formerly Fundación Futuro), of which he is owner.[53] The foundation's board will include some of the station's current executives. Under that proposal, Piñera maintains the right to remove and replace the foundation's president at any given time.[54] Cristián Patricio Larroulet Vignau, current Minister of the Secretariat of the Presidency of Chile, stated that Piñera was honoring his promise of removing himself from private corporations, as Chilevision will become the property of a non-profit organization. MP Cristián Monckeberg (RN), stated there is no law obligating Piñera to do otherwise and thus this decision is legally legitimate.[53]. The option above finally did not take place, Piñera decided to sell the TV station, and after a failed attempt in May 2010 with the Linzor Capital investment fund,[55] the President announced it sold Chilevisión to Time Warner, in late August 2010.

Piñera said he won't sell his 12.5% stake in Blanco y Negro, company that owns the nation's popular soccer team Colo-Colo. He has stated, "We want big things and not only achieve local victories. The idea is to return the Copa Libertadores to Chile. That is our great goal."[56] Although he will remain part owner, he will take no administrative duties or role while President.[57]

Piñera announced what he calls his "cabinet of unity" on Tuesday, 9 February 2010, at 18:00 hours (local time), in Chile's National Historical Museum. The list of names was presented the previous day to the leader of the National Renewal Party, Carlos Larraín, and the leader of the Independent Democratic Union, Juan Antonio Coloma. The cabinet is made up of 16 men and 6 women, with an average age of 49. Amongst Piñera's nominees is Jaime Ravinet, who is defense minister of the current president's cabinet and a former member of the Christian Democratic Party, from which he resigned upon accepting Piñera's cabinet offer. Also a nominee is Cristián Larroulet, who was an economic planning adviser under Pinochet.[58]

During his first official meeting with his Council of Ministers on Wednesday, 10 February, Piñera issued a formal memorandum calling upon all members to renounce their positions in all private companies by 28 February in order to avoid conflicts of interest. The memorandum also said that in regards to national heritage, secretaries of state whose affiliation with companies having direct receipt of fiscal monies must either remove themselves from those associations or honor the restrictions of their competitors.[59] Ten of his 22 ministers have involvement in companies with significant financial means.

Piñera's campaign logo in the second round of the election

On 17 December 2017, Sebastián Piñera was elected president of Chile for a second term.[60] He received 36% of the votes, the highest percentages among all 8 candidates in the 2017 elections. In the second round, Piñera faced Alejandro Guillier, a television news anchor who represented Bachelet's New Majority (Nueva Mayoría) coalition. Piñera won the elections with 54% of the votes.[33]

Levels of approval (blue) and disapproval (red) of Piñera's term from 2010 to 2014, according to the Adimark survey. Piñera left office in March 2014 with an approval rating of 50%

Early in 2012 physicist Frank Duarte sharply criticized Piñera's performance in the handling of the Chilean–Peruvian maritime dispute at The Hague, deemed as favoring commercial interests over the interest of the Chilean people, and called for Chile's withdrawal from The Hague.[71] Following the adverse ruling against Chile in 2014, several political figures in Chile, from a variety of political parties, also called for Chile's withdrawal from The Hague that would, in addition, imply a withdrawal from the Pact of Bogota.[72][73]

In December 2011 during a state visit to Mexico a joke made by Piñera where he compared women with politicians caused uproar in Chile, sparking criticism from his own minister Carolina Schmidt who said of the joke that it was "hurting to many women".[74] In the joke Piñera said that "when a lady says "no" it means maybe, when she says maybe it means yes and when she says yes she is not a lady."[75] The Chilean Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence called the joke "misogynic" and "a shame for the whole country".[75] Previously on a state visit to Peru in 2011 Piñera received criticism for his informal style after he revealed to Peruvian president-elect Ollanta Humala that he was a descendant of the Inca Huayna Capac.[76] Senator Jorge Pizarro criticized Piñera's comment to Ollanta Humala, calling for more careful and respectful attitudes.[77]

In January 2018, Piñera unveiled his cabinet to harsh criticism: his interior minister, Andrés Chadwick, was a vocal supporter of Pinochet dictatorship, which had previously appointed him president of the Catholic University Students Federation.[80] In 2012 Chadwick expressed "deep repentance" for this support after discovering "over the years" serious human rights violations committed by the dictatorship, while defending the regime on other grounds.[81]

Chadwick and justice minister Hernán Larraín were also "supporters and defenders of the secretive German enclave Colonia Dignidad, which was established by the fugitive Nazi officer and paedophile Paul Schäfer in the early 60s".[80] Colonia Dignidad was used by Pinochet security officials to torture and murder opponents of the regime.[80][82]

Other appointees with ties to the Pinochet includes mining minister Baldo Prokurica, a governor under the Pinochet dictatorship.

In response to the widespread protests that broke out across Chile in October 2019, Piñera declared a state of emergency on 18 October, authorizing the deployment of Chilean Army forces across the main regions to enforce order and prevent the destruction of public property, and invoked before the courts the Ley de Seguridad del Estado ("State Security Law") against dozens of detainees.[83] As a result, Piñera has been heavily criticized, decreasing his approval ratio down to 9% by October 24th, according to a poll by Active Research.[84], although it slowly recovered back up to 29% by May 25th 2020[85], against 60% disapproval. This consistent low level of support has been attributed to losing support from officials due to failure to restore order and enforce the rule of law.[86] On 12 December 2019 the National Congress rejected an opposition led motion to impeach him. The impeachment resolution accused him of failure to protect human rights in relation to the protests.[87]

Under Piñera's leadership, Chile has had one of the largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the world. As of June 19, 2020, it has had recorded 231,393 cases of COVID-19 and 4,093 deaths from COVID-19[88], the third highest totals for each in South America. Only Brazil and Peru have more of each.[89] In response, Piñera has banned events with more than 500 people[90] and issued lockdown orders in certain areas of the country, most notably the Santiago Metropolitan Region[91]

During the 2019–20 Chilean protests Piñera made himself known for the use of a bellicose language.[99] When Piñera addressed the nation on the evening of 20 October during the height of the unrest he remarked that the country was "at war with a powerful and relentless enemy" and announced that the state of emergency would be extended across much of the country.[100] Some opposition politicians described his rhetoric as "irresponsible", while a Latin America editor for BBC News Online expressed concern about the impact his words would have on the protesters and on the chances for meaningful dialogue.[101] Hours shortly after the President's speech, chief of national defense Javier Iturriaga del Campo spoke against this declaration, asserting that he was "content" and "not at war with anyone".[102]

However the use of bellicose rhetoric can be traced back to at least 2018 when Piñera begun his second government.[99] He has referred to a variety of subjects like drug trafficking, terrorism and organised crime as a "powerful and relentless enemies".[99] Besides this Piñera has made frequent use of words like "battle", "conquest", "defeat" and "combat" in his verbal communication.[99] The use of such language is not unique to Piñera but has also been heard from European right-wing populists and George W. Bush.[99] According to economist Carlos Tromben who studied the political discourse of Piñera, the aim of this rhetoric is to rally the nation behind what is perceived as a common interest, but the success of this has been variable.[99] Tromben also view the bellicose rhetoric as a defensive communicational strategy aimed to gain time for a "counterattack".[99]

• Grand-Master (2010-2014/2018-) and Gran Cross of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins
• Grand-Master (2010-2014/2018-) and Collar of the Order of Merit

• Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Olav, Norway (27 March 2019)[105]
• Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Spain (4 March2011)[106]