Bachelet
forecast to win Chile's presidential vote
REUTERS/Ivan
Alvarado(L)/Max Montecinos(R)
Socialist Michelle Bachelet (L) conservator businessman
Sebastian Pinera
By Francoise Kadri
AFP
SANTIAGO
Petroleumworld.com 01 13 06
A Chilean polling firm forecast a comfortable win for socialist
Michelle Bachelet in Sunday's presidential run-off vote as campaigning
drew to a close here Thursday.
A nationwide survey of 1,200 people by the Mori institute found
that 45 percent backed Bachelet, while 40 percent favored right-wing
businessman Sebastian Pinera and 15 percent were undecided, the
group said Thursday.
Based on the results of that poll, which had a three-percentage-point
margin of error, the Mori group projected that Bachelet would
win Sunday's run-off election by 53 to 47 percent, or six points.
"Fifty-three percent to 47 percent is truly a landslide for
a woman in Latin America," said Marta Lagos, director of
the Mori institute in Chile. "She, as a single mother, represents
the hope of quashing inequality ... of power for the powerless."
Lagos's son, Cristobald Huneeus, who also works for the polling
group, predicted that "many women who never voted for a leftist
before will vote for Bachelet."
The January 2-9 poll was the last one conducted ahead of the vote,
and the Mori institute's projection was released as the candidates
made their final campaign pushes ahead of Thursday's mandatory
midnight close of campaigning.
Bachelet was to remain in Santiago Thursday to address an anticipated
crowd of 100,000 people, surrounded by luminaries from the political
and art world, while Pinera headed to Valparaiso along with a
group of Chilean artists, in a bid to demonstrate his concern
for all regions of Chile.
Bachelet led Pinera 46 percent to 25.4 percent in the first round
of voting but failed to secure the 50 percent majority required
to win the presidency.
She had to cut her campaigning short in the first round, after
a bus carrying supporters crashed, killing five people.
As an agnostic and a single mother who has had children with two
different partners, Bachelet's background goes against the grain
in conservative Chilean society.
But her family's history under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship
has connected her with many Chileans.
Her father, an air force general, was arrested when Pinochet took
power in 1973, and he died six months later, after being tortured
in detention. She was arrested two years later, along with her
mother, and was also tortured in prison.
As the country's first female defense minister under current President
Ricardo Lagos -- a post she renounced to run for president --
she campaigned for reconciliation with the military.
Pinera, 56, of the National Renewal party, is the biggest shareholder
in Chile's LAN airline and also runs several other companies.
He led an aggressive campaign on a socially moderate but fiscally
conservative platform.
Lagos's successor will take office on March 11.
If elected, Bachelet, 54, of the Democratic Agreement coalition,
would be Chile's first female president.
AFP
01 12 06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
