(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Almost half of people in Chile think businessman and conservative politician Sebastián Piñera will be their next president, according to a poll by MORI. 48 per cent of respondents believe it is possible that Piñera of the National Renewal (RN) party will succeed his opponent in the last race, Michelle Bachelet.

Former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos Escobar of the governing Agreement of Parties for Democracy (CPD) is a distant second with six per cent, followed by current Organization of American States (OAS) secretary-general José Miguel Insulza with three per cent, former foreign minister Soledad Alvear with two per cent, and former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle with one per cent.

The CPD’s 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.

Since taking office, Bachelet has faced massive protests staged by high school students complaining about the poor quality of public education, as well as street demonstrations in Santiago, the capital city, over the botched implementation of a new transportation program called Transantiago.

On Sept. 10, Piñera assured that the current administration does not want him to join a multi-party panel seeking to solve Transantiago’s issues because it fears this would boost his political profile, declaring, "[The government] does not want me to participate because it realizes that if I contribute to the solution I could increase my chances to become president. In other words, they worry more about stopping my presidential aspiration than about solving Transantiago."

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.

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

Polling Data

Who do you think will be the next president of Chile?

Source: MORI
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Chilean adults, conducted from Aug. 20 to Sept. 1, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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