Chile is voting for a new president, with opinion polls suggesting billionaire Sebastian Pinera is the frontrunner.The centre-right businessman is one of four men vying for the job. He is up against three left and centre-left candidates - Eduardo Frei, Marco Enriquez-Ominami and Jorge Arrate. BBC correspondents say the signs are that the country could be about to shift to the right, after 20 years of centre-left rule. If no-one manages to get 50% of the vote on Sunday, the two leading candidates will go through to a run-off on 17 January. Growth promiseMr Pinera, 60, owns a television channel, a stake in Chile's most successful football club and has millions of dollars in investments. He has campaigned on a tough law-and-order ticket and has also vowed to use his business know-how to reactivate the economy, promising Chileans an annual growth rate of 6% for the next four years.
Chile is voting for a new president, with opinion polls suggesting billionaire Sebastian Pinera is the frontrunner.
The centre-right businessman is one of four men vying for the job.
He is up against three left and centre-left candidates - Eduardo Frei, Marco Enriquez-Ominami and Jorge Arrate.
BBC correspondents say the signs are that the country could be about to shift to the right, after 20 years of centre-left rule.
If no-one manages to get 50% of the vote on Sunday, the two leading candidates will go through to a run-off on 17 January.
Growth promise
Mr Pinera, 60, owns a television channel, a stake in Chile's most successful football club and has millions of dollars in investments.
He has campaigned on a tough law-and-order ticket and has also vowed to use his business know-how to reactivate the economy, promising Chileans an annual growth rate of 6% for the next four years.
Chilean woman might not be burning their bras but they are certainly loosening the shoulder straps. So why the sudden change?Women's rights groups are almost unanimous in their response: the Bachelet factor. Chile's first-ever female president, 57-year-old Michelle Bachelet, is credited with pushing gender issues up the political agenda.On assuming power in March 2006, she appointed female ministers to half her cabinet. She also gave the national ministry for women a long-overdue budgetary boost. Her motives were not impersonal. A separated mother, she juggled bringing up three children while carving out a successful career in Chile's male-dominated medical profession."Given the quantity of women in power under this administration, we can no longer say we are excluded", Laura Albornoz, Chile's women's minister.She is quick to reel off the achievements of Bachelet's administration; a more than fivefold increase in the number of free crèches, a best practice code on flexible working; occupational training for 36,000 female heads of household.
Chilean woman might not be burning their bras but they are certainly loosening the shoulder straps. So why the sudden change?
Women's rights groups are almost unanimous in their response: the Bachelet factor. Chile's first-ever female president, 57-year-old Michelle Bachelet, is credited with pushing gender issues up the political agenda.
On assuming power in March 2006, she appointed female ministers to half her cabinet. She also gave the national ministry for women a long-overdue budgetary boost. Her motives were not impersonal. A separated mother, she juggled bringing up three children while carving out a successful career in Chile's male-dominated medical profession.
"Given the quantity of women in power under this administration, we can no longer say we are excluded", Laura Albornoz, Chile's women's minister.
She is quick to reel off the achievements of Bachelet's administration; a more than fivefold increase in the number of free crèches, a best practice code on flexible working; occupational training for 36,000 female heads of household.
SANTIAGO, Chile -- When Gen. Augusto Pinochet held a referendum on his rule in 1988, a surge of young voters was the decisive difference in emphatically turning the country toward democracy. But as Chileans head to the polls on Sunday, with the fate of the 20-year old governing coalition in the balance, young voters are not likely to play a major role.Even as its democracy has matured and its steady economic management has become the envy of Latin America, Chile's youngest citizens have developed a serious case of political apathy.Just 9.2 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds are registered to vote on Sunday, the lowest number for a presidential election since democracy was restored in 1990, and slightly lower than the percentage registered in 2005 when Chileans elected Michelle Bachelet, the first woman to become president. She is not allowed to seek a second consecutive term under the Constitution."I hope that 9 percent becomes zero percent," said Gonzalo Castillo, an 18-year-old history major at the University of Chile, who said he refused to register. "All the candidates represent the interests of the oligarchy, of big business interests."
SANTIAGO, Chile -- When Gen. Augusto Pinochet held a referendum on his rule in 1988, a surge of young voters was the decisive difference in emphatically turning the country toward democracy.
But as Chileans head to the polls on Sunday, with the fate of the 20-year old governing coalition in the balance, young voters are not likely to play a major role.
Even as its democracy has matured and its steady economic management has become the envy of Latin America, Chile's youngest citizens have developed a serious case of political apathy.
Just 9.2 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds are registered to vote on Sunday, the lowest number for a presidential election since democracy was restored in 1990, and slightly lower than the percentage registered in 2005 when Chileans elected Michelle Bachelet, the first woman to become president. She is not allowed to seek a second consecutive term under the Constitution.
"I hope that 9 percent becomes zero percent," said Gonzalo Castillo, an 18-year-old history major at the University of Chile, who said he refused to register. "All the candidates represent the interests of the oligarchy, of big business interests."
