(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – An independent presidential candidate from the left is rapidly gaining momentum in Chile, according to a poll by TNS-Time. 25 per cent of respondents would vote for Marco Enríquez-Ominami in this year’s election, up 11 points since April.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – An independent presidential candidate from the left is rapidly gaining momentum in Chile, according to a poll by TNS-Time. 25 per cent of respondents would vote for Marco Enríquez-Ominami in this year’s election, up 11 points since April.
Sebastián Piñera of the Alliance for Chile (APC) is still ahead with 33 per cent, followed by Enríquez-Ominami and former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle of the Agreement of Parties for Democracy (CPD) with 24 per cent. Support is lower for senator Alejandro Navarro of the Broad Social Movement (MAS), and independent lawmaker and former Senate president Adolfo Zaldívar.
In a second round scenario featuring Piñera and Frei, the conservative candidate holds a five-point advantage over the former head of state.
The CPD’s Michelle Bachelet—a former defence minister—was elected in a January 2006 run-off with 53.49 per cent of all cast ballots. Piñera was second with 46.51 per cent.
The centre-left CPD—which includes the Socialist Party (PS), the Christian-Democratic Party of Chile (PCD), the Party for Democracy (PD) and the Radical Social-Democratic Party (PRSD)—has not lost a single presidential election in Chile since the return of democracy after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in March 1990. The centre-right APC encompasses Piñera’s National Renewal (RN) and the Independent Democratic Union (UDI).
In October 2008, Piñera’s RN achieved significant victories in local elections across the country. For the first time, centre-right parties have more elected mayors than centre-left organizations. Frei served as Chile’s president from March 1994 to March 2000.
Enríquez-Ominami recently split from the Socialists to run as an independent. His father, the late Miguel Enríquez Espinosa, was the founder and secretary general of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and was assassinated by the Pinochet regime when Ominami was three months old.
On May 26, Enríquez-Ominami accused Piñera of being a "political opportunist" whose ideas are "kidnapped by the Opus Dei and the UDI" party. The Opus Dei is one of the Catholic Church’s hard-line conservative orders, while the UDI represents the most right-wing branch of Chile’s political landscape.
Bachelet is ineligible for a consecutive term in office. The first round of Chile’s presidential election is scheduled for Dec. 11.
Polling Data
If the presidential election took place this Sunday, which of these candidates would you support?
|
|
May 2009 |
Apr. 2009 |
|
Sebastián Piñera |
33% |
36% |
|
Marco Enríquez-Ominami |
25% |
14% |
|
Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle |
24% |
29% |
|
Alejandro Navarro |
2% |
4% |
|
Adolfo Zaldívar |
1% |
3% |
Thinking about a run-off, which of these candidates would you vote for?
|
|
May 2009 |
Apr. 2009 |
Mar. 2009 |
|
Sebastián Piñera |
43% |
43% |
39% |
|
Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle |
38% |
41% |
41% |
|
Neither / Not sure / Blank |
12% |
16% |
20% |
Source: TNS-Time
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,330 Chilean adults, conducted from May 4 to May 30, 2009. Margin of error is 2.6 per cent.
