The new president will choose you as his economic adviser. Give him your best counsels.
Chilean economy has taken a giant leap in its path to development, supported by the agricultural sector. On this website university students in the field of Agribusiness have a word to say in the BLOG about ideas for innovation and economic development: Give your best advice to the new president! HERE
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Introducing: Loreto Flores
raben_allen@hotmail.com
.
I'm a Chilean engineering student in Agribusiness. I designed this website because I'm very interested in the future of Chile: Opening 2010 we'll have a new president. I choose the title "winds of change, winds of Chile" because I remember the 1990 Scorpions song which speaks of a major paradigm shift. Just as German youth who felt the winds of change in 1989, young Chileans feel these winds too... the winds of Chile.
WINDS OF CHANGE
On this website you will find what university students think about this coming change. Also the latest news about Chile, about Chilean youth and the new president.
On this website you will find what university students think about this coming change. Also the latest news about Chile, about Chilean youth and the new president.
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Three of four young people in Chile
will not vote in presidential elections
Three of four young people will not vote tomorrow according to official figures. The reasons are a product of apathy, a lack of propositions of the candidates, and the fact that the registration becomes a lifelong obligation to vote. Only 797,991 young people between 18 and 29 years are enrolled, of the nearly 3 million who are in that age bracket. The percentages are shocking: 74 percent of Chileans aged 18 to 29 years are not listed on the register, which means they can not vote. Young people under 30 years are mostly in favor of removing restrictions on divorce, and broadly support the "day after pill" to be delivered without restrictions. A high percentage also agrees with gay marriage, therapeutic abortion and the legalization of marijuana, particularly in higher socioeconomic groups, where the highest rates of youth vote is registred.
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A new president for Chile in 2010.
University students claim: "They don't care about us"
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Eduardo Frei
Eduardo Frei, 67, is a politician and civil engineer who was President from 1994 to 2000. He is currently Senator and the candidate of the ruling "Concertación", the center-left coalition. He promises continuity of current President Michelle Bachelet's path. Some of his presidential campaign banners and billboards have pictured him accompanied by Michelle Bachelet over his left shoulder. Students criticize him because during his presidence education was reformed, but with poor results. Chile does not achieve yet optimal levels of education, despite having a high HDI.
Sebastian Piñera
Mr. Piñera, 60, is a billionaire economist with a Harvard doctorate. He made his fortune in the late 1970s by founding the credit card giant "Transbank" and later amassing a 27 percent stake in LAN, Chile’s national airline. Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $1 billion. He ran for president before, in 2005, and lost to current president, Ms. Bachelet. He has promised to create a million jobs and crack down on drug traffickers. However, young people is suspicious of his word, believing that Piñera only wants to increase his economic power through the presidency.
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First round in Chile for electing a new president:
Won by a billionaire
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December 13, 2009, Santiago, Chile, by "The New York Times"
A self-made billionaire businessman won the first round in Chile’s presidential race on December 13, 2009, bolstering his bid to unseat the left-of-center coalition that guided the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy and has governed for 20 years, represented by Eduardo Frei.
With 98 percent of the vote counted, the businessman, Sebastián Piñera, a right-of-center former senator, was ahead with 44 percent. Eduardo Frei, a former president who was seeking to succeed his party’s incumbent, the popular Michelle Bachelet, was second with 30 percent. Neither candidate exceeded the 50 percent required.
The strong showings by Mr. Piñera reflect a desire by many Chileans this year for political renewal and a break in the uninterrupted line of leaders from the Concertación coalition in one of Latin America’s most developed democracies.
Ms. Bachelet, Chile’s first woman president whose approval ratings top 80 percent, was prevented by the Constitution from seeking a consecutive term.
Much of Mr. Frei’s campaign focused on pledges to continue many of the social programs established by Ms. Bachelet, who improved conditions for women and greatly expanded early child care for the working class. Mr. Frei, has said he would seek to extend social protections to the middle class.
But his efforts to woo more young people to register to vote fell short in a country whose youth are deeply apathetic, with only 9.2 percent of eligible voters under 30 registering to vote by the September deadline.
A self-made billionaire businessman won the first round in Chile’s presidential race on December 13, 2009, bolstering his bid to unseat the left-of-center coalition that guided the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy and has governed for 20 years, represented by Eduardo Frei.
With 98 percent of the vote counted, the businessman, Sebastián Piñera, a right-of-center former senator, was ahead with 44 percent. Eduardo Frei, a former president who was seeking to succeed his party’s incumbent, the popular Michelle Bachelet, was second with 30 percent. Neither candidate exceeded the 50 percent required.
The strong showings by Mr. Piñera reflect a desire by many Chileans this year for political renewal and a break in the uninterrupted line of leaders from the Concertación coalition in one of Latin America’s most developed democracies.
Ms. Bachelet, Chile’s first woman president whose approval ratings top 80 percent, was prevented by the Constitution from seeking a consecutive term.
Much of Mr. Frei’s campaign focused on pledges to continue many of the social programs established by Ms. Bachelet, who improved conditions for women and greatly expanded early child care for the working class. Mr. Frei, has said he would seek to extend social protections to the middle class.
But his efforts to woo more young people to register to vote fell short in a country whose youth are deeply apathetic, with only 9.2 percent of eligible voters under 30 registering to vote by the September deadline.
