He had little political experience and was a relatively young (40 years) technocrat credited for Chile's good economic performance in the later half of the 1980s.

The right parties faced several problems in the elections: there was considerable infighting between RN and UDI, Büchi had only very reluctantly accepted to run for president and right-wing politicians struggled to define their position towards the Pinochet regime.

In addition to this right-wing populist Francisco Javier Errázuriz Talavera ran independently for president and made several election promises Büchi could not match.

Its candidate Patricio Aylwin, a Christian Democrat, behaved as if he had won and refused a second television debate with Büchi.

The electoral system meant that the largely Pinochet-sympathetic right was overrepresented in parliament[2] in such way that it could block any reform to the constitution.