Chile: Former Pres. Piñera Announces Candidacy for 2017 Election

SANTIAGO, Chile - Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has announced his candidacy for the presidency after being away from the nation's top political office since 2014 and will be considered the favorite to emerge victorious in his center-right coalition's primaries.

Piñera, the billionaire businessman who led Chile from 2010 to 2014 on behalf of the center-right National Renewal (and the center-right to right-wing Alliance for Chile coalition), left office with very low approval numbers.

When he left the Moneda, the presidential palace in Santiago, he said that he would not be seeking a return to the presidency in the near future (and he did not seek another term in 2014 as immediate re-election is barred by the Chilean Constitution).

With the electoral campaign season right around the corner, however, Piñera's name had been thrown around as a possible...