The prominent presence of independent candidates in Chile highlights a broader trend across the region: voters' growing preference for figures with no ties to traditional parties.
Party independence has emerged as a trait that fosters trust in a political system perceived by many citizens as opaque and distant from their true interests.
The feeling that the only possibility to change the country was lost continues to accumulate frustrations on a pile of disenchantment that was already too large.
Two months after the death of former President Piñera, his legacy is a subject of debate. For some, he was a builder of bridges and regional institutions, while others see him as the precursor of the radical populist right in the southern country.