Sebastian Pinera's third year in office was the first which offered the chance to implement a policy agenda. Having overcome the challenges of the 2010 earthquake and the appearance of social protest in 2011, the Coalition for Change government could have used 2012 to leave a real mark in terms of public policy. However, the public agenda very quickly became dominated by the electoral calendar, due to municipal elections in October and the appearance of candidates testing the waters for the presidential campaign.