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Old
Names, New Faces Shake Up Chile Election
SANTIAGO -
Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera
could put an end to 20 years of centre-left
rule in Chile if, as opinion polls suggest,
he emerges victorious from Chile’s
presidential election, which enters a first
round on Sunday, Dec. 13.
Yet, ironically, a Pinera victory could owe
much to left-wing political newcomer Marco
Enriquez-Ominami, a former member of the
Socialist Party who broke away in June to
run as an independent for the top office in
Latin America's most stable economy.
A 36-year-old congressman and filmmaker,
Enriquez-Ominami has fired up an otherwise
uninspiring election campaign, accusing his
opponents, all aged over sixty, of being
spent establishment figures. His campaign
quickly won over many followers, fracturing
the vote on the left.
Enriquez-Ominami, who is commonly referred
to as MEO for the sake of brevity, is likely
to fall just short of the result required to
make the second round of the election. But
his aggressive campaign may have done
irreparable damage to centre-left rival
Eduardo Frei, the man picked by the “Concertation”,
the ruling coalition of outgoing President
Michelle Bachelet, as its candidate.
Frei, a seasoned politician and former
Chilean president, is expected to take on
right-wing candidate Pinera in a January 17
run-off. But, having struggled to ride the
wave of Bachelet's huge popularity, he looks
set to enter the contest as the runner-up
and with a tattered image courtesy of MEO’s
harsh attacks.
“Far too much bad blood has been spewed
during the campaign,” says FRANCE 24’s
correspondent in Santiago, Jorge Garreton.
“It would be extremely difficult for
Enriquez-Ominami to be an active supporter
of Frei in the run-off.”
The name Enriquez-Ominami carries some
weight in Chile. MEO’s father, Miguel
Enriquez, was the leader of the
revolutionary Marxist MIR movement. He waged
a guerrilla war against the military
dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, before the
regime encircled and killed him in 1974.
Marco, aged one at the time, had already
fled to France with his mother, returning to
Chile only in 1986. He would later add
Ominami to his name, in honour of his
stepfather, Senator Carlos Ominami. A
successful film director, Enriquez-Ominami
is married to a popular television star,
Karen Doggenweiler, and appeals in
particular to younger voters.
The dark horse of Chile’s election describes
himself as a progressive-liberal and is far
from sharing the revolutionary ideas of his
father. While he has called for a new
constitution and broad educational reform,
Enriquez-Ominami has also been known to
defend liberal policies for the economy.
Another familiar name has made headlines
ahead of Chile’s general election. Rodrigo
Garcia-Pinochet, the grandson of the
infamous late dictator who ruled Chile for
17 years, is running for a congressional
seat in a wealthy district of the capital,
Santiago.
Like Enriquez-Ominami, Garcia-Pinochet is
unlikely to win on Sunday. After failing to
receive the support of the conservative UDI
party, Garcia-Pinochet decided to run as an
independent, and is expected to siphon votes
from the conservative coalition.
Yet, unlike MEO, the scion of the Pinochet
clan is not seen by all as heralding a
change in Chilean politics. Gabriel Garcia,
a 30-year-old executive who lives in Garcia-Pinochet’s
district, says he fears the dictator’s
grandson will take his country backwards, to
a past that Chileans have strived to bury.
Though he will support the conservative
ticket, Garcia concedes that Enriquez-Ominami’s
inspired run for the presidency appeals to
his generation. “My closest circle of
friends identifies with Marco (Enriquez-Ominami),
because of his political courage, but not
with Rodrigo (Garcia-Pinochet), who in no
way represents a new kind of politics,” he
says. |
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