In Chile, presidential candidate puts religion at heart of campaign

Published: 2006-01-04

SANTIAGO, Chile (CNS) -- In an effort to win votes from politically moderate and Catholic voters in a Jan. 15 presidential runoff, conservative candidate Sebastian Pinera Echenique has placed religion at the heart of his campaign. Pinera, candidate for the National Renewal party and one of the wealthiest businessmen in the country, has sought the backing of members of the Christian Democratic Party and claimed his opponent, Socialist Party member Michelle Bachelet Jeria, is agnostic. One of Pinera's key advisers is a conservative Catholic theologian. Days after the first round of voting in mid-December, Pinera introduced mid-level Christian Democratic politicians who were backing him, claiming that "Christian Democratic supporters and sympathizers are increasingly turning to me for a very simple reason: They feel we interpret their Christian humanist values much better" than Bachelet, a 54-year old pediatrician, separated mother of three, and victim, like her parents, of human rights abuses during the 1973-90 military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

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