Joaquín Lavín

Who is Joaquín Lavín?

Joaquín José Lavín Infante is a Chilean politician and economist. He is a member of the Independent Democratic Union party and former mayor of Santiago and Las Condes municipalities of capital Santiago. He ran for president twice in 1999 and 2005, losing both times.

Lavín was born in Santiago and earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago. He wrote a book, Una revolución silenciosa, in support of General Augusto Pinochet's economic policies. He was also political editor of the conservative Chilean daily El Mercurio. Afterwards, in 1992, Lavín was elected mayor of Las Condes, a stronghold of the right, with 31% of the vote and reelected in 1997 with 78% of the vote.

Lavín was the presidential candidate for the UDI-National Renewal coalition Alliance for Chile in the 1999 election. He eventually lost to PS/PPD candidate Ricardo Lagos in a runoff by 200,000 votes. Lavín again represented UDI in the 2005 presidential election, but ended in third place with 23.23% of the vote, due the presence of another right-wing candidate in the race, Sebastián Piñera, who made it to the runoff election with 25.41% of the vote.