Billionaire leads leftists in early Chile returns

[demoleft]

Source: ap

SANTIAGO, Chile – A right-wing billionaire led three leftists with 45 percent of the votes Sunday in early returns from Chile's election, short of the majority needed to avoid a January runoff for the presidency.

With less than 13 percent of the vote counted, Sebastian Pinera led the ruling coalition's candidate, former President Eduardo Frei, who had 32 percent.

Socialist Rep. Marco Enriquez-Ominami, who broke away from the ruling coalition in a dispute with Frei, had 18 percent, and Jorge Arrate, representing an outsider coalition led by Communists, had 5 percent, according to the first official nationwide results.

The trend was expected to roughly hold through Sunday's vote count, putting Pinera and Frei in a Jan. 17 runoff election where the key question will be whether leftists can unify to fend off the most moderate candidate Chile's right has ever had.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091213/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_chile_election

[Ken Burch]

1. Hopefully, they CAN unite

Chile's right can't be trusted with power:

[demoleft]

2. damn, my friend - that pic makes my blood boil with rage. thanx for posting and reminding. n/t

[acsmith]

4. backed by the UK and US governments....

don't worry, Obama would never think of such a thing

[harmonicon]

8. HA! Yeah, of course not.

Honduras not counting, of course.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

24. Not sure the coup in Chile and what's transpired in Honduras are remotely comparable.

[harmonicon]

26. well, they can be compared in a few simple ways:

1. an elected leader was forced from power
2. this was done with aid from the military
3. an unelected right-wing head-of-state, in control of the military who he had used to carry out this coup, took power
4. opposition figures were murdered in their streets and in their homes
5. figures from the US government - or working with the US government - gave counsel and support to the perpetrators of the coup.
6. the illegal, un-democratic, right-wing government was recognized as the official government by the US

I'm sure there are many other ways that they are quite similar as well, but those are the few that come to mind immediately. Of course there are also differences, but the situations and times are different as well. What is at the core of both though, I'm afraid are quite the same.

[Ken Burch]

17. There was a great song written shortly after that

with this chorus:

"It's a long, long way from the heartlands,
to Santiago Bay,
Where the good Doctor lies, with blood in his eyes
And the bullets read 'U.S.of A',
And the bullets read 'U.S.of A'."

[unkachuck]

20. isn't that....

....a young henry 'the monotone' kissinger wearing the shades?

[Ken Burch]

22. Nah...Dr. K only dressed like that when he was unwinding with close friends.

n/t.

[arcos]

3. Enriquez-Ominami attracted lots of young people who are unlikely to support Frei...

They're tired of the same old politicians running the show, and lots will stay home and quite a few even vote for Piñera.

Although Enriquez-Ominami is more moderate in economic issues than Frei, he supports gay marriage and abortion rights, something the coalition has shunned away from.

[BolivarianHero]

5. I'm 26 and I'd be surprised to see the day...

Has Chile even legalized no-fault divorce yet?

[arcos]

7. I believe they have, just a few years ago... nt

[AlphaCentauri]

12. The billionaire tittle also plays in the minds of the iconoclast

even it won't benefit the poor

[laughingliberal]

6. God, help them

"But a huge wealth gap between rich and poor and a chronically underfunded education system have many voters feeling more must be done to redistribute Chile's copper wealth. A study by the World Bank several years ago showed that the poorest 10 percent of Chileans benefit from only 1.3 percent of government revenues, while the richest 10 percent benefit from 40 percent.

A win by Pinera, 60, would mark a tilt to the right in a region where leftists have won most recent elections." <snip>

If they think a tilt to the right is going to help the wealth gap.

[depakid]

9. There will be a runoff

that former President (center/left) Eduardo Frei will likely win.

[laughingliberal]

10. crossing fingers nt

[Downwinder]

11. The headline could have just a well have been:

Leftists lead Billionaire in early Chile returns

The "Leftists" have garnered 55% between them.

But I don't think that headline would have suited the AP.

[rfranklin]

13. Yes, the majority is voting leftist...

Just as they do in this country. If you combined the votes for Gore and Nader, we never would have had the Bush junta in the White House.

[Downwinder]

14. I can't see

Piñera picking up any MEO or Arrate vote.

Did the Hillary voters turn right?

[arcos]

23. MEO picked up a lot of voters who would've voted for Piñera...

In fact, without MEO, Piñera would have probably won in the first round.

[quakerboy]

21. Or if they had just counted the votes for Gore

That would have done it as well.

[rabs]

15. Pinera-Frei runoff confirmed

(Figures from La Nacion newspaper of Santiago)

Segundo cómputo: Se confirma balotaje Piñera-Frei
Con el 59,99% de las mesas escrutadas, Piñera llega a un 44,23 por ciento y Frei un 30,5 por ciento. MEO obtiene un 19,39% y Arrate un 5,86 por ciento.


59.99 percent votes counted

Pinera 44.23 percent

Frei 30.5 percent

MEO 19.39 percent

Arrate 5.86 percent

Arrate on Friday said he would throw his votes to Frei.

Frei, few minutes ago as write this, called on MEO and Arrate to support him in the second round.

De cara a la segunda vuelta el abanderado de Concertación, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, llamó a los electores del independiente Marco Enríquez-Ominami y del representante de la izquierda, Jorge Arrate, a votar por él la segunda etapa eleccionaria en que deberá enfrentarse al candidato de la Coalición por el Cambio, Sebastián Piñera.

---------------------------------

Results coming in as polls predicted. The question now is dealing with MEO. He said earlier this week that he was not disposed to call on his supporters to vote for Frei, but there is going to be a lot of pressure on him in the next four weeks before the Jan. 19 runoff.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Thanks for the rundown, rabs. Hope MEO will calm down soon and rethink his position on Frei.

He was a member of Frei's party for quite a while.

He's so young, he has a lot of time to run again, too. Hope it works out he'll get an overview on this and help his old party.

[David__77]

25. I don't think they were members of the same party.

Frei is a Christian Democrat, right? In fact, from a family with right-wing tendencies in that party, while the other guy was a member of the Socialist Party. Both in the "concertacion," but very different ideologically.

[struggle4progress]

18. Billionaire, ex-president head for Chile run-off (Reuters)

... Frei called on Enriquez-Ominami's supporters to back him but the 36-year-old son of guerrilla leader slain under Pinochet, who defected from the ruling coalition, said he would not endorse any candidate in the run-off, which could weigh on Frei's chances ...

The political right has not won an election for 50 years in Chile ...

Frei, 67, whose 1994-2000 presidency was rocked by a recession amid the Asian financial crisis, has pledged to continue the social programs of Bachelet, who is very popular ...

Fourth-place candidate Jorge Arrate of a leftist bloc that includes Chile's Communist Party had nearly 6 percent of the vote and has pledged to back Frei in the second round ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BC0P020091214

[struggle4progress]

19. Six held over 1990 assassination of Chilean ex-president

From Times Online
December 13, 2009

A lingering mystery from the Pinochet years finally moved towards resolution this week as six people were arrested over the alleged assassination of former president Eduardo Frei at the hands of the brutal military regime which ruled Chile for almost two decades to 1990 ...

His son, also Eduardo Frei, was president from 1994 to 2000 and was running for a second time in elections on Sunday in which the handling of the Pinochet legacy has become a key issue.

The regime was notorious for its Caravan of Death, a death squad which travelled the country killing opponents, and for the use of the "parilla" torture method which saw victims strapped to a metal rack or "grill" and electrocuted ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6955260.ece