MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bachelet manages to stay ahead in debate

If the Chilean presidential run off were to take place this Sunday, the ruling coalition candidate Michelle Bachelet would win by a six points difference over conservative millionaire Sebastian Piñera, according to a public opinion poll organized by a team of experts from the Bachelet campaign team.

However this seems to reflect the outcome of Wednesday's debate when Ms. Bachelet was identified as the winner over Mr Piñera, following a phone poll by Time Research with a score of 49% to 41%. Another poll by the consulting firm Geminis, identified with the Pinochet military regime said the debate was a draw with 43.7% for each candidate.

Ms Bachelet and Mr Piñera are in a desperate battle to attract, before next January 15 run off, the estimated 8 to 10% of the Chilean electoral roll of 8.2 million who still remain undecided.

In the December round Ms Bachelet managed 46% of the vote and Mr. Piñera 25.4%, but with his Conservative ally, Joaquin Lavin the opposition totalled 48.6%.

Ms Bachelet has been promised support from the 5.4% Communist party.

During the 90 minute debate Ms Bachelet managed to counter Mr Piñera's doubts about her character questioning her adversary's rich man reputation.

"I think she's a capable woman, but to become president you need other professional qualities such as leadership, personality, strength, will, drive, clarity, knowledge", said Mr Piñera. But Ms Bachelet replied that a good president needs to show integrity, honesty, audacity but also caution, plus seriousness and social responsibility.

The incumbent candidate also pushed the fact that the Conservative opposition in the Chilean Senate has impeded the government to advance in rationalizing the military's pension system plus refusing to vote a constitutional amendment recognizing the indigenous populations.

Mr. Piñera attacked saying he was most concerned with the left wing turn in Latinamerican politics, "a brand of populism which can cause problems", and Chile's next president will have to face this challenge "with great character and much prudence".

Ms Bachelet replied there's no need to "demonize" what's happening in the hemisphere.

"There's no such thing as an "axis of evil" and an "axis of democratic" presidents. They have been legitimately elected by the people and we have to respect that", adding that the real challenges are "integrating indigenous peoples, drug trafficking and migration".

Finally Socialist Ms Bachelet refused to be cornered into accepting former president Salvador Allende, and praised as Chile's greatest president in recent times, Ricardo Lagos.

Mr. Piñera said the presidents he most loathed are precisely Socialist Allende and Augusto Pinochet (the general ousted the elected Socialist president in a bloody military coup September 1973), and the leaders he most admired former presidents Patricio Aylwin and Eduardo Frei.

Strangely enough the two are Christian Democrats, the junior partner in Chile's ruling coalition, and where Mr Piñera has focused his guns.

Some middle weight Christian Democrat leaders are disenchanted with agnostic and "left leaning" Ms Bachelet.

But Ms Bachelet if elected will be the first woman president in Chile's history, meaning she has a strong gender support.