January 18, 2010 - By REUTERS - SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Billionaire Sebastian Pinera was elected Chile’s president on Sunday in a political shift to the right after 20 years of leftist rule and will try to build on policies that made the economy Latin America’s most stable.

Pinera won almost 52 percent of Sunday’s run-off vote, the first time the right has wrested power from the center-left since General Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship ended, signaling Chile is moving on from the former strongman’s bloody legacy.

Pinera’s victory over ex-President Eduardo Frei of the ruling leftist coalition marks a shift to the right in South America, a region dominated by leftist rulers from Venezuela to Brazil. The Harvard-educated airline magnate takes office in March.

The market favorite’s win helped boost Chile’s bourse to new life intraday highs on Monday morning.

Pinera, 60, has vowed to give Chile’s state a business-like overhaul to boost efficiency, promising to create a million jobs and boost economic growth to average 6 percent a year. The economy shrank in 2009, its first recession in a decade.

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