MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean presidential election set for run off

If Chilean elections were held next Sunday the ruling coalition candidate Michelle Bachelet would be forced to a run off since she has a 39% support followed by the two conservatives Sebastian Piñera, 22% and Joaquín Lavín,20%, according to the latest opinion poll released in Santiago.

The latest figures show a dramatic seven point drop for Ms. Bachellet from the 46% recorded in the August-September poll.

Mr. Piñera grows five points and Mr. Lavin one point.

This is the first time that the combined two conservative candidates' votes overtake Ms. Bachellet. However in a run off between the ruling coalition candidate and Mr. Piñera, Ms. Bachellet would be victorious by 45% to 37%.

In a run off with Mr. Lavín, Ms. Bachellet margin would be greater, 48% to 33%.

Another disturbing factor with just a few weeks to the December 11 presidential election is that the rejection index for Ms. Bachellet has risen one point to 13% while that of Mr. Piñera drops from 9 to 5%. Mr. Lavin's remains unchanged at 33%.

Nevertheless 66% of those interviewed believe that Chile's next president will be Michelle Bachelet (5% less that the previous poll); Mr. Piñera 13% and Mr. Lavin 10%.

The opinion poll covered the whole of Chile, involved 1.505 people above 18 in 144 municipalities and was done between October 15 and November 4. The error margin is 2,7% up/down and 75% of those interviewed were effectively in the Electoral Registry.

Ms Bachelet said she was not satisfied with the latest poll, "and shows we have to work harder but avoid becoming nervous".

The ruling coalition candidate added that anyhow she's still "twenty points ahead of the runner up and you can be sure I'm the next Chilean president in the first round or in the run off". However she will be looking into the poll "with utmost attention".

Mr. Piñera said he had anticipated there would be a run off between him and Ms Bachelet and that the next president of Chile "is an open option".

"For the first time the combined votes of the (conservative) Alliance are more than those of the ruling coalition and we have the chance of winning the presidency", insisted Mr. Piñera who called on Mr. Lavin to a joint last effort.

Mr. Piñera also called on President Ricardo Lagos to stop meddling in the election process, "either he ends as president of all Chileans or simply states he's head of the campaign, since both responsibilities are not compatible".

President Lagos who was not aware of the opinion poll said "if that's the difference, and the loss of points, then there's much work ahead still". Osvaldo Puccio, cabinet chief also admitted that the ruling coalition needs "more grass roots work", but played down the "conservative plus margin" arguing that there's no way "you can add pears with apples". "Anyhow a bucket of cold water every now and then can be refreshing and positive".