Chile will hold presidential and congressional
elections on Sunday. The following are some key facts about the South American country in the run-up to its fifth voting since the end of the 1973-90 military regime of Augusto Pinochet.
Chile is the longest and narrowest nation in the world, with a total area of 756, 626 sq km.
It boasts a 10,300 km Pacific coastline. It borders Argentina to the east, Bolivia and Peru to
the north.
All Chilean citizens over 18 years of age are eligible to vote. Out of the country's 16.6
million population, more than 8 million people have registered to vote.
Voting opens at 7:00 a.m local time (1000 GMT) and ends at 16:00 (1900 GMT) on Sunday, at around 34,300 polling tables. Preliminary official results will be announced at 19:00 (2200 GMT) on Sunday night.
Four candidates are running for the president. According to the latest opinion polls,
Sebastian Pinera Echenique, candidate of the opposition Coalition for Change gained 44.1
percent of support, followed by Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the ruling Concert of Parties for
Democracy (also called Concertacion), with 31 percent, Marco Enriquez-Ominami Gumucio of Independent with 17.7 percent, and Jorge Arrate with 7.2 percent.
Under the country's reformed constitution unveiled in September 2005, the presidential
term was reduced from six years to four years. A presidential candidate needs an absolute
majority of votes to be declared the winner. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of
the votes, the two leading candidates will contest a runoff election on Jan. 17, 2010. The
winner will succeed President Michelle Bachelet on March 11, 2010.
The congressional election will involve the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. All of the
120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 18 out of the 38 seats in the Senate will be up for
grabs. There are more than 500 candidates vying for the seats. Deputies and senators serve
for a period of four years and eight years respectively. Reelection is permitted.
More than 35,000 policemen and soldiers have been deployed across the country for election security.
Nepali opposition party declares two more autonomous states KATHMANDU, Dec. 13 (Xinhua/GNA) -- Two days after declaring Kochila and
Limbuwan autonomous states in eastern Nepal despite widespread concerns over the move,
the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) is all set to declare two more
autonomous states as part of its third round of protests on Sunday.
According to a nepalnews.com report, the main opposition party is declaring five districts
in western Terai as Tharuwan autonomous state where the Tharu ethnic community forms the
majority. The ceremony will be held in Nepalgunj of Banke district in mid-western Nepal.
Similarly, they are set to declare Seti-Mahakali autonomous state -- which comprises hilly districts of far-west -- from Dipayal of Doti district.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the UCPN-M decision to declare
federal states would invite political confrontation and urged the party to
withdraw the decision if they wanted timely drafting of constitution.
A meeting of the UCPN-M central committee last week had decided to go ahead with its
previously announced plan of declaring autonomous states.
The UCPN-M had on Nov. 25 unveiled its plan to declare 13 autonomous states based on ethnicity and region within Dec. 11-18.
Various political parties have also expressed their objection to the UCPN-M move, saying that it undermines the supremacy as well as the significance of the Constituent Assembly
itself.