Chile's Presidential Election: Frei Falters,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTIAGO 000877 SIPDIS AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/10/16 TAGS: PGOV ECON CI SUBJECT: Chile's Presidential Election: Frei Falters, Enriquez-Ominami Picks Up Support, and Pinera Stands to Gain REF: SANTIAGO 835; SANTIAGO 867 SANTIAGO 00000877 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: Paul Simons, Ambassador, State Dept, US Embassy Santiago; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Eduardo Frei's bid to return to the presidential palace is faltering as a disorganized campaign, fractious Concertacion coalition, and competing progressive candidates drain support away from the former president. Frei -- long seen as steady, dependable, and frankly, a bit boring -- has been losing ground to his more charismatic competitors, billionaire conservative Sebastian Pinera and flashy leftist upstart Marco Enriquez-Ominami. Pinera is emerging as the strongest candidate, as Enriquez-Ominami's success does more to hurt Frei than to boost his own chances. End Summary. Latest Polls: Pinera Leads, Enriquez-Ominami Catches Up to Frei -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Just two months away from the first round of presidential elections, polls show that Sebastian Pinera remains in the lead, Eduardo Frei's candidacy is stagnating, and upstart challenger Marco Enriquez-Ominami continues to gain support. The latest Centro de Estudios Publicos poll, released in early September and considered the most accurate of Chile's political polls, showed that Pinera's support remained flat from June to September at 37 percent, while Frei dipped slightly from 30 percent to 28 percent and Enriquez-Ominami gained 4 percentage points to reach 17 percent (Ref A). More recent polls, while generally considered to be less reliable, suggest that Frei may have fallen further in recent weeks. Surveys published in late September and early October in Chilean newspapers show Pinera far ahead of his challengers, with Frei and Enriquez-Ominami in a statistical dead heat. Frei Campaign Faltering -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Frei's campaign and the Concertacion have suffered a series of setbacks over the past few months, highlighting their poor discipline and lack of coordination. The public has watched as a progression of key campaign officials have been named, sidelined, and replaced quickly, creating a sense of disorganization and in-fighting. 
 ¶4. (SBU) Meanwhile, Concertacion heavyweights have not hesitated to publicly express their frustration with Frei's campaign. PRSD party president Jose Antonio Gomez complained that Concertacion party leaders haven't been adequately included in campaign efforts. Frei's recent bolder moves -- likely an effort to enliven his flagging campaign -- have sometimes alienated other center-left politicians. For example, Frei's early October appearances with "descolgados" -- former Concertacionistas who left their parties in order to mount independent congressional campaigns -- led both the official Concertacion candidates for congress and Concertacion party leaders to cry foul. Meanwhile, former president Patricio Aylwin and former Foreign Minister Gabriel Valdes both publicly disavowed Frei's October 6 comment that a Pinera victory could lead to "social conflict." Enriquez-Ominami's Star is Rising -------------- ¶5. (SBU) While Frei stalls, Enriquez-Ominami is increasingly positioning himself as a bonafide presidential contender and not just a young rebel. The first term parliamentarian has performed well in recent debates, coming across as sincere, relaxed, and concerned with the welfare of everyday Chileans. He has attempted SANTIAGO 00000877 002.2 OF 003 to paint himself as the true inheritor of Bachelet's progressive legacy, and has sought to boost his credibility by launching a think tank, "Justicia para el Bicentenario," (Bicentennial Justice) and securing a meeting with Brazilian president Lula da Silva on October 20. He also picked up endorsements from two small political parties --the leftist Moviemiento Amplio Social and the Partido Regionalista y Independiente -- after their candidates dropped out of the presidential race. Nonetheless, his efforts to gain support have only been partially successful thus far. The latest polls show that while nearly a quarter of Chileans would vote for him in the first round, just 10 per cent believe he will be Chile's next president. Another Candidate Emerges from Wings: Leftist Jorge Arrate -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Jorge Arrate, a three-time former government minister who resigned from the Socialist party to represent a coalition of leftist groups including the Communist Party, has experienced a renaissance in recent weeks and may be a factor in the election. After being essentially ignored by the Chilean media and public for months, Arrate's sincere, relaxed, and knowledgeable performance in the September 23 debate, the first major debate of the campaign, was judged by many to be the best of the bunch. Polls and pundits now predict that he could win 4-5% of the first round vote, enough that he could have an effect on Pinera, Frei, and Enriquez-Ominami's standings. Pinera: Steady As He Goes -------------- ¶7. (C) While Frei's campaign plays out its disagreements in public, the normally fractious Alianza coalition has remained remarkably united behind their candidate. While some of this motivation is ideological, Frei advisors speculate privately that for much of the Pinera camp, the campaign is also about a chance to fulfill their own professional ambitions. In two decades of Concertacion governments, ambitious conservatives have been confined to Congress, think tanks, and the business sector. They are highly motivated to put their political and personal differences aside in their quest for cabinet positions and other jobs within a possible Pinera administration. ¶8. (SBU) Meanwhile, Pinera is doing his best to rail against 20 years of Concertacion rule without actually criticizing President Bachelet -- who enjoys the highest approval ratings in modern Chilean history -- or her policies. Pinera likes to remind voters that he is the only candidate from the opposition, given that Frei, Enriquez-Ominami, and Arrate all have roots in the Concertacion. Frei's allegations that Pinera engaged in insider trading clearly rattled him during the debate (Ref B),but seem to have had almost no effect on voters. Meanwhile, Pinera has launched his own attacks against Frei, criticizing the former president for pardoning a drug trafficker in 1994 and not making his personal finances more transparent. ¶9. (C) Comment: Sebastian Pinera has a lot to smile about these days: both Frei's lackluster performance and Enriquez-Ominami's continued success benefit him. For the first time, it seems possible -- though still very unlikely -- that Enriquez-Ominami could place second in December's first round election, pushing Frei out of the runoff. Far more likely, however, is that Enriquez-Ominami's continued success will fall short of winning him a place in the runoff election, but will seriously damage Frei. Without dramatic changes, Frei is likely to have a weak showing in both November's all-important CEP poll and the December first round elections. Frei, already seen as stale and somewhat tired, would then face an uphill battle to regain energy, unity, and votes in SANTIAGO 00000877 003.2 OF 003 time for the January 17 runoff election. Pinera -- who emerged as late-entry spoiler in the 2005 election, drawing votes away from fellow conservative Joaquin Lavin before losing to Bachelet in the second round -- must be enjoying being on the gaining side of political division this year. SIMONS