By 6 o'clock Sunday night, the news had filled the streets of Santiago with honking: For the first time in 52 years, Chile had elected a conservative president, unseating the left-leaning "Concertación" coalition that has ruled the country for the last two decades. From a crowded hotel ballroom at the Crown Plaza in Santiago, a posh-looking crowd of supporters for the winning candidate, billionaire businessman Sebastian Piñera, listened as the vote tallies were called out on television, district by district. Within minutes, his supporters were celebrating, waving flags from car windows and apartment balconies. In the end, Piñera took 52 percent to his opponent Eduardo Frei's 48 in the runoff election.
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