Latin America: Chile: Political scene with former leftist winning space for his small independent centrist party

"Chile vote exposes fatigue with ruling center-left alliance," by Sara Miller Llana (Dec13,2k9) Christian Science Monitor.

Mr. Piñera will not receive the 50-plus percent of votes needed to avoid a runoff. He faces former president Eduardo Frei of the ruling party, who is in second place. But Enriquez-Ominami, in third, has surged in polls in recent weeks. ..[T]he split in the left created by Enriquez-Ominami´s departure is the biggest change to the nation´s political scene.

Eduardo Frei is formerly a leader of the Christian Democratic Party in Chile.

Another CSM dispatch by Sara Miller Llana (Dec13,2k9) reports "Chile vote latest vote is sign of region's shift to the center."

A Wikipedia article gives a fine overview of Eduardo Frei's Christian Democratic Party of Chile, a particpant with the Socialist Party in the coalition government called the Concertacion.
-- Politicarp