CHILE: Billionaire's Presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera closes his campaign with rally in seaside city of Valparaiso

Record ID: 345680

  • Title: CHILE: Billionaire's Presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera closes his campaign with rally in seaside city of Valparaiso
  • Date: 15th January 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF RALLY; PEOPLE SINGING AND CELEBRATING (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5ACMRLTDUUXN7JQOWACK2ZJK3
  • Story Text: Chilean billionaire and presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera closes his campaign before Sunday's vote with a rally in the seaside city of Valparaiso.
    Billionaire businessman and presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera holds a razor-thin lead ahead of Chile's elections on Sunday.
    He closed his presidential campaign calling on Chileans to "vote for change" in a rally at the seaside city of Valparaiso on Thursday (January 14).
    Pinera could end 20 years of center-left rule, but few major policy changes are anticipated should he win.
    The airline magnate leads by very small margin over Eduardo Frei, a former president from the leftist bloc that has ruled the world's top copper producer since General Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship ended in 1990.
    "I want to ask all the millions and millions of Chileans that this Sunday when they go to vote and they have their pen in their hand, they should know that they have the opportunity to make a change for the better, for life and for the future of our country, a chance to give all Chileans a full and happy life," Pinera told the crowd.
    "An opportunity to demonstrate that we have an honest government that works without rest to improve the life of all Chileans."
    A Pinera win would mark a shift to the right in a region dominated by leftist rulers from Venezuela to Brazil.
    A MORI poll published on Wednesday showed Pinera winning the run-off election with 50.9 percent of the vote, against 49.1 percent for Frei -- well within the survey's 3 percent margin of error.
    Two more Pinera rallies were planned on Thursday afternoon in the cities of Talco and Concepcion, after which the magnate said he was taking the night off to celebrate his wife's birthday with an intimate dinner.
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