(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Businessman Sebastián Piñera is currently a strong contender in the next race for Chile’s presidency, according to a poll by La Tercera. 35 per cent of respondents would vote for the member of the conservative National Renewal (RN) in next year’s ballot.

Former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos Escobar of the governing Agreement of Parties for Democracy (CPD) is a distant second with nine per cent, followed by current Organization of American States (OAS) secretary-general José Miguel Insulza with six per cent. Support is lower for former foreign minister Soledad Alvear, Joaquín Lavín of the conservative Independent Democratic Union (UDI), and former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle.

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.

On Aug. 25, government spokesman Francisco Vidal commented on this poll, saying, "It is a multiple choice question, it is not a question regarding who you would vote for on Sunday. They are the politicians with the most potential and one could clearly interpret Piñera as being the one of the politicians with most potential because he is running alone and is currently the most important candidate of the right."

Bachelet is ineligible for a consecutive term in office. The next presidential election in Chile is scheduled for December 2009.

Polling Data

Which candidate would you vote for in the 2009 presidential election? (Open-ended)

Source: La Tercera
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,000 Chilean adults, conducted in August 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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