Unlike in the two previous presidential elections, The Concertación failed to pass the 50% threshold in the first round vote in 1999. Some have argued that the economic crisis and the long tenure of the Concertación in government explain the fall in the vote share. Yet, months after that election, with the economy still struggling, the Concertación obtained 52.1% of thevote in the municipal election. Here we explore a model with political variables to account for the difference in the Concertación vote share in both elections. To explain the larger Concertación vote share in the 2000 municipal elections we use the “PDC Presence”. We
construct that variable with data that includes the presence of PDC candidates for the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in every district, the presence of PDC senators, deputies, mayors, regional intendentes and provincial governors in all municipalities in the country. Using a statistical model that includes socio-demographic variables and the “PDC presence” we explain the vote share difference between the Concertación vote in the 1999 presidential elections and
the 2000 municipal elections. We show that Lagos vote share in 1999 was negatively influenced by PDC presence in the nation’s municipalities. As the PDC presence grew, the vote share for Lagos decreased with regards to the vote share for the Concertación in 2000.