Chile Election Update

Here's a newer poll on the Chile presidential election.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - This year’s presidential election in Chile may not be as safe for the opposition candidate as thought until now, according to a poll by CEP. 35 per cent of respondents would vote for Sebastián Piñera of the opposition centre-right Alliance for Chile (AC) in the December ballot, up one point since June.

Former president Eduardo Frei of the centre-left Agreement of Parties for Democracy (CPD) is a close second with 30 per cent, followed by independent, left-wing candidate Marco Enríquez-Ominami with 16 per cent. Support is much lower for left-wing candidate Jorge Arrate, former Senate president Adolfo Zaldívar, and independent, left-wing candidate Alejandro Navarro.

In a prospective run-off scenario, Piñera holds a three-point lead over Frei.

If the presidential election took place this Sunday, who would you vote for?

	Jun. 2009	Dec. 2008
Sebastián Piñera	34%	41%
Eduardo Frei	30%	31%
Marco Enríquez-Ominami	14%	n.a.
Alejandro Navarro	1%	4%
Adolfo Zaldívar	1%	3%
Jorge Arrate	1%	n.a.
Would not vote	6%	12%
Not sure	13%	10%

Pinera is the only candidate on the right.

Enríquez-Ominami is shaking things up, accusing Pinera of lying as Frei has but the newcomer has a whole new audience of younger people. The first round of Chile’s presidential election is scheduled for Dec. 11.

An earlier June poll gave Pinera 41%, 42% in August but now just 35%.

Suppose these two candidates reach the second round of the presidential election. If this were the case, who would you vote for?

	Aug. 2009	Jun. 2009
Sebastián Piñera	42%	41%
Eduardo Frei	39%	39%
Not sure / Would not vote	19%	20%

President Michelle Bachelet(who can't run again consecutively) enjoys 73% popularity which has not yet translated to Frei. There will certainly be a runoff between two candidates-the question is "who will get the votes from which candidate?"