Orlando Cornejo Bustamante ran as a candidate in the 1992 municipal election, held in June of that year, representing the
Union of the Centrist Center (UCC). He was elected mayor, after obtaining 634 votes (10.72%) out of 5,915. He took office on 26 September of that year, along with councilors Aldo Polanco Contreras, Raúl Tobar Pavez,
Jorge Vargas González, Mario Bichón Cáceres, and Mariano Polanco Galarce. Cornejo was the first mayor of Pichilemu to be elected in
democracy, after the
military regime of
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte ended. Among Cornejo's work as mayor of Pichilemu, in 1995, he purchased for the Municipality of Pichilemu the former
Agustín Ross Casino, now turned into a cultural center. The purchase was made with the support of the
Pichilemu City Council, composed through the term of 1992–96 by Aldo Polanco Contreras,
Jorge Vargas González, Mario Bichón Cáceres, Mariano Polanco Galarce, and Raúl Tobar Pavez, for 30 million pesos (approximately US$60,000). Cornejo created a police control booth in the entrance of Pichilemu, near the local cemetery, which has "proved effective helping that crimes affecting other beach resorts do not occur" in Pichilemu. and gave
kiosks to local artisans at the Avenida Costanera Cardenal José María Caro. In 1994, along with President of the Chamber of Tourism of Pichilemu
Washington Saldías González, Cornejo requested the
National Monuments Council the designation of the Pichilemu historical centre as a "typical zone" (
zona típica). The proposal was approved ten years later, on 1 September 2004, thereby naming the area comprising most of the Avenida Agustín Ross area, including the
Agustín Ross hotel,
former casino, and
park. Orlando Cornejo's mayorship has been qualified as "one of the best administrations of Pichilemu in democracy" by conservative
National Renewal (RN) politician Aldo Polanco Contreras, who went on to say in an October 2008 interview with
El Expreso de la Costa that "he [Cornejo] would not do anything if it was wrong, because he asked people who are knowledgeable in administrative matters in the municipality and so he had never any trouble." In 1996, Cornejo ran as a candidate in that year's municipal election, as an independent supported by the List B, of right-wing candidates. However, he failed to be elected, as he obtained 216 votes (3.40%) out of 6,352. He unsuccessfully ran again as a candidate in the 2000 election, as an independent supported by the List D, of his former
Progressive Union of the Centrist Center party. Cornejo obtained 86 votes (1.35%) out of 6,370. ==Other work==