Santiago: A conservative billionaire has a paper-thin lead heading into Chile's presidential election yesterday as he bids to end 20 years of centre-left rule, but is wrestling with the ghost of former dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Airline magnate Sebastian Pinera is seen narrowly beating Eduardo Frei, a former president from the leftist bloc that has governed the world's top copper producer since the end of Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
A win by Harvard-trained economist Pinera would mark a shift to the right in a region dominated by leftist rulers from Venezuela to Argentina, although no major changes to econ-omic policy are expected whoever wins.
Many Chileans are disenchanted with the ruling centre-left "Concertacion" coalition, and say the government could have made better use of billions of dollars in copper boom savings. They are also fed up that an old guard dominates politics.
"The Concertacion has been in power for so long. It's time for a change," said 60-year-old Silvia Salinas, a housewife from the modest suburb of Renca on the outskirts of Santiago. "We should give Pinera a chance."
A MORI poll last Wednesday showed Pinera winning the run-off with 50.9 per cent of the vote, against 49.1 per cent for Frei well within a 3-percentage-point margin of error.
Pinera, ranked No 701 on the Forbes global rich list, won 44 per cent in the December 13 first-round vote, while Frei took 29.6 per cent. It was the first time the right outpolled the left in a presidential vote since Chile returned to democracy in 1990.
With the field narrowed, both Frei and Pinera scrambled to woo the supporters of a maverick independent who divided the left, polled third with 20 per cent and missed the run-off.
Former film producer Marco Enriquez-Ominami finally gave Frei a lukewarm endorsement last Wednesday, and his support could prove a factor in the race, although analysts say it was likely too little, too late.
Pinera (60) who made his fortune introducing credit cards to Chile and has a major stake in flagship airline LAN, has benefited from divisions in the ruling coalition.
He has sought to distance himself from the bloody legacy of Pinochet's rule, when more than 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" and about 28,000 people were tortured, and has reached out to the large middle class.
