MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Billionaire Piñera and ex president Frei lead Chilean polls

After 20 years of the ruling Concertación could be ready for a change: conservative Piñera

Chilean billionaire and conservative presidential candidate Sebastian Piñera’s lead narrowed Thursday in the widely respected poll CEP, while underdog Marco Enriquez-Ominami jumped to 13%.

Centre-left Concertación candidate Eduardo Frei’s support also slimmed to 30%, though the senator’s campaign still found reason to celebrate. Frei and Piñera would practically tie in a runoff, taking 41% and 39% of the vote respectively, according to the poll.

The same poll in November had Piñera 10 points ahead of Frei in a runoff.

“It’s impossible for us not be satisfied and happy in light of the results that we’ve been able to see this morning,” said Sebastian Bowen, Frei’s campaign manager.

Piñera, meanwhile, called on his supporters to redouble their efforts.

“I’ve never thought this race would be a quick dash” he said. “But I’ve always thought that we’re going to win this election.”

The poll had him at 37%, down 7 points since November 2008.

The poll, conducted by the Centre for Public Studies (CEP), has long been seen as a barometer of the Chilean political climate. The poll has correctly forecasted the results of dozens of elections since it famously predicted that Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s 1988 plebiscite (to remain in office) would fail.

The 1988 vote tossed the dictator out of office after 15 years in power and restored Chile’s democracy. The next year, the poll correctly predicted Patricio Alywin’s victory, the first of four successive centre-left presidents. Piñera has said the poll is widely seen as an “oracle”.

Wednesday’s poll questioned about 1,500 people about their perceptions of the Chilean body politic, including how they plan to vote.

Dep. Enriquez-Ominami, the young independent candidate, as included for the first time. Many analysts had predicted that Enriquez-Ominami would overtake Frei, since other polls had the candidate nipping at Frei’s heels.

But Enriquez- Ominami said he was happy with the results.

“Our campaign is the only one going forward,” he said. “We’re calm and content” Enriquez-Ominami, 36, who defected from the ruling Concertación coalition last week, has leapt into the limelight in the past month. The former filmmaker has drawn support from much of Chile’s youth.

The upstart candidate has exchanged harsh worth words with some members of the Concertación, saying the coalition has strayed from its founding ideals.

But his candidacy might be helping the ruling coalition more than hurting it, according to Wednesday’s poll.

If Piñera and Frei, who served as president from 1994 to 2000, make it to a runoff, about 50% of Enriquez-Ominami’s votes would go to the Concertación candidate.

“Evidently there’s a message here that we have to listen to here,” Bowen said in a radio interview.

By Evan Rose - Santiago Times