Chile: When Reya Primus and her husband headed out to vote in the presidential election yesterday, she went to one polling station and he to another, complying with a law that segregates voting by gender.
Then Ms Primus cast a ballot that she says could begin to bring about the end of such traditions.
"In Chile, from one century to another, men have run everything, and there is a strong presence of discrimination in this culture," said Ms Primus (61), a housewife and resident of Santiago, the capital.
"But things will start to change if Michelle Bachelet wins. At least, I hope they will."
Voters will choose between Ms Bachelet, a former defence minister and member of the ruling Socialist Party, and Sebastian Piqera, a former senator and one of the country's wealthiest entrepreneurs. Polls predict a Bachelet victory, which would give Chile, a culturally conservative country, its first female leader, and South America its first woman elected to the top national office who was not the wife of a former president.
The media has paid close attention to the pioneering aspect of Ms Bachelet's campaign, which means that one of Mr Piqera's toughest challenges has been to cast himself as someone who could represent Chile's future - not just business as usual.
In the campaign's final days, Mr Piqera emphasised that the governing coalition to which Ms Bachelet belongs has held the presidency for 16 consecutive years, while gaps in the health care and education systems continue to trouble residents.
Mr Piqera (56) promised to provide pensions for housewives and to increase police presence on the streets. "We need an alternative, because it would signify the opening of doors and windows so that everything could be ventilated and the country illuminated with sunshine," he told about 8,000 supporters at a rally in Valparaiso, in central Chile, as he ended his campaign.
A member of the conservative National Renewal party, Mr Piqera earned a doctorate in economics from Harvard and worked for the World Bank in the 1970s. He is part-owner of Chile's largest airline, largest bank, largest shipping company and largest industrial group. His wealth is estimated at more than $1 billion.
Mr Piqera finished with 26 per cent of votes in the first round of balloting last month, narrowing the field to him and Ms Bachelet, who received 46 per cent of the votes. He edged out Joaquin Lavin, who had been the favourite among more conservative voters.
During a nationally televised debate this month, Mr Piqera denounced the 1973-1990 rule of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who currently faces a variety of criminal charges for corruption and widespread human rights abuses. Though Gen Pinochet's popularity among Chileans has sunk in recent years, some conservatives still revere him as a guardian against communism and an economic reformer.
Ms Bachelet (54), is a self-proclaimed agnostic in a country where the Catholic Church traditionally has been the most powerful cultural force. She has three children and is separated from her husband.
Her father, an air force general who served under socialist president Salvador Allende, died in military custody shortly after Gen Pinochet's 1973 coup. Ms Bachelet and her mother were kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured by Gen Pinochet's government. She lived in exile in Australia and Europe but returned to Chile in 1979 and worked as a paediatrician. She served as health minister under president Ricardo Lagos from 2000 to 2002 before being named defence minister. Mr Lagos has thrown his support behind her - a considerable benefit, given his popularity rating of 75 per cent, according to an opinion poll conducted last week.
Mr Lagos' six years in office have been some of the most prosperous in Chile's history, with spending surpluses and steady growth. Ms Bachelet has pledged to support Mr Lagos's economic reforms promoting free trade and fiscal discipline.
If elected, Bachelet has said, at least half her cabinet members would be women. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)
Latin America's move to left continues
As the first polling stations in Chile began to close yesterday, socialist candidate Michelle Bachelet said: "Today is the day of the citizens. It's their decision. We're very calm and very optimistic."
Ms Bachelet was speaking before entering a polling station in Santiago.With one of Latin America's lowest poverty rates, Chileans' biggest concerns are crime and unemployment.
A Bachelet victory would consolidate a shift to the left in Latin America, where left-wing governments of various kinds now run Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. A socialist will soon take office in Bolivia and a left-wing candidate is expected to win Mexico's presidential election in July.
While Latin American elections often give investors jitters, the markets have taken Chile's campaign in their stride, confident that whoever wins will follow the prudent fiscal policies that have helped make it the region's most stable economy. Ms Bachelet would be only the second woman elected to head a South American state and the first who was not the widow of a former president. - (Reuters)