Conservative billionaire Sebastian Piñera won Chile’s presidential elections on Sunday, ending 20 years of centre-left rule and symbolising an historic shift to the right in Latin America’s most stable economy and the world’s leading copper producer.

Piñera (second from left) stands with all candidates for the presidency prior to election results. Photocredit: Wikimedia

Chile will be in the hands of a right of centre leadership for the first time since the Pinochet dictatorship, which lasted from 1973 to 1990. The shift also bucks a wider Latin American trend that’s seen the left in power across much of the continent.

Harvard educated economist and number 701 on Forbes magazine’s global rich list, Piñera won 51.87 percent of Sunday’s vote, with more than 60 percent of ballots counted. His rival, former President Eduardo Frei of the ruling leftist coalition, had 48.12 percent.

The Telegraph reported that the win is representative of feelings of disenchantment towards the left, rather than an active desire to shift to the right. At the same time, The Santiago Times maintained that with an approval rating of 81 percent, former centre-left president Michelle Bachelet was Chile’s most popular president.

According to Reuters, the new president will not make too many changes to the free-market policies. The business tycoon has said the private sector will take the lead in spurring economic growth, vowing to revamp state enterprises and expand tax breaks to spark job creation.

He also promised to maintain social programs and bring some of those benefits to middle-class Chileans whom have often felt abandoned by centre-left governments.

With a divided congress, Piñera will face opposition from the left, particularly in any attempts to relax business regulations.

Reuters also noted that Piñera’s election will likely spur protests from a politically minded group of students, teachers and unions, who are constantly pushing for more funds to be directed towards health, education and worker benefits.

According to the Canadian Press, Piñera’s victory speech made no mention of foreign policy. Given his recent comments about Chile’s neighbours, he may have more enemies than friends on the continent: Last week he called Cuba a “dictatorship,” said Venezuela is “not a democracy”, and vowed never to concede land nor sea that belongs to Chile, a nod to persistent tensions with Bolivia.

Bill Stott, for The Santiago Times, wrote that this historic election was between the party of memory and the party of hope, past versus future. Chile chose the future and by doing so, has attracted significant international onlookers all curious to see how the next phase plays out.