Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s presidency on Sunday, with his centre-left opponent Alejandro Guillier conceding the election as Chile followed other South American nations in a political turn to the right.

With 98.44% of the ballots counted, the billionaire conservative, 68, had won 54.57% in the runoff vote, to 45.43% for senator Guillier, a wider than expected margin in a race that pollsters had predicted would be tight.

Months of campaigning exposed deepening rifts among the country’s once bedrock centre left, an opening former president Piñera leveraged to rally more centrist voters around his proposals to cut corporate taxes, double economic growth and eliminate poverty in the world’s top copper producer.

In his concession speech at a hotel in downtown Santiago, Guillier called his loss a “harsh defeat” and urged his supporters to defend the progressive reforms of outgoing President Michelle Bachelet’s second term. Many Chileans had viewed the election as a referendum on her policies, which focused on reducing inequality by making education more affordable and overhauling the tax code.

Piñera’s supporters cheered the news at his campaign headquarters as the results were swiftly tabulated on a hot and sunny evening in Santiago.

Though neither candidate would have marked a dramatic shift from Chile’s longstanding free-market economic model, a Piñera victory underscores an increasing tilt to the right in South America following the rise of conservative leaders in Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

Piñera painted Guillier, a former TV anchorman and current senator, as extreme in a country known for its moderation, and likened him to Venezuela socialist President Nicolás Maduro. But Piñera’s own conservative agenda may also struggle, at a time when efforts by his ideological allies in Brazil and Argentina to reduce fiscal deficits by cutting spending have faced political opposition and sparked protests.

The investor favourite, Piñera’s proposals are seen as miner-friendly in a country where copper is king. He has pledged support and stable funding for Chile’s state-run miner Codelco, and has promised to slash red tape which had bogged down projects under Bachelet. After a leftist party made unexpected gains in November’s first round, Piñera sought to woo less well-off voters with proposals such as the creation of a public pension fund to compete with Chile’s criticised private pension funds, and the expansion of free education.

The race marks a turning point for Chile’s historic coalition of centre-left parties, previously known as the Concertación. The pact fissured under Bachelet, riven by disagreements over policies such as loosening Chile’s strict abortion laws and strengthening unions.

Piñera seized on the backlash, campaigning on a platform of scaling back and “perfecting” her tax and labour laws, seen by many in the business community as crimping investment at a time slumping copper prices were weighing on the economy. “I voted for Piñera because I am an entrepreneur. I value my own efforts and do not expect much from the government,” said Rosario Poma, 53. “I think (Piñera) will be good for investment.”

“My great hope is that after this election, despite the division, we can return to unity,” he said after voting in Santiago.To win, Guillier must capture votes from Sanchez supporters, who said she would vote for him to protest Pinera.