Chile’s Socialist Coalition Loses Edge Over Right

The governing coalition of Socialist President Ricardo Lagos retained control of Chile’s lower house in legislative elections Sunday, but it lost its one-vote edge in the Senate over the right-wing opposition.

A far-right party that includes supporters of former dictator Augusto Pinochet appeared set to become Chile’s largest single political party, helping its conservative alliance reduce Socialist control of the legislatures.

Lagos called the results a victory for his government obtained despite Chile’s economic difficulties.

“In times of international crisis, we Chileans should remain more united than ever before,” Lagos said. He promised “more efficiency.”

The vote for all of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and half the Senate seats was seen as the first major test for Lagos’ 19-month-old government, which is struggling to lower a 9.7% unemployment rate.

With 99% of the votes counted Sunday, the ruling Coalition for Democracy had 47.9% support, a moderate drop from the 50% it received in legislative elections four years ago.

The right-wing opposition front, the Alliance for Chile, had 44% of the vote, up from 30% in 1997. Most of this gain came from the Independent Democratic Union, UDI, a party made up mostly of Pinochet supporters.

The UDI won 25% of the vote, up from 17% four years earlier, displacing the pro-government Christian Democratic Party as Chile’s largest party.

The 86-year-old Pinochet did not vote because he was in bed with laryngitis, said his spokesman, retired Gen. Guillermo Garin.

The remaining votes went to minor groups, such as the Communist Party, whose 5.2% was barely above the 5% required to maintain legal recognition.

The center-left coalition retained control of the lower house, but its current 70-50 majority was narrowed to about 64-56.

The Senate, where the government had its one-vote edge, turned into a 24-24 tie. Only half of the Senate’s 38 elective seats were at stake.

The government said it was satisfied with the results.

“Voters have clearly backed the government,” spokesman Claudio Huepe said. “We have a clear advantage over the right, in spite of the current economic difficulties and the high unemployment rate.”

Right-wing leaders were jubilant. “This election shows that our alliance is a real alternative of government in the election four years from now,” said Santiago Mayor Joaquin Lavin, the main opposition leader.

Lavin, who forced Lagos to an unprecedented, tight runoff two years ago, has made clear he intends to take a new shot at the presidency.