Environmental issues are emerging as a potentially significant influence in Chile''s neck-and-neck presidential race between center-left presidential candidate Ricardo Lagos and conservative Joaquín Lavin. The pair must compete in a Jan 16 runoff because neither received an absolute majority in a five-candidate presidential contest on Dec. 12. Lagos, a socialist representing the governing center-left Concertación coalition, won 47.96% of the estimated 8 million ballots cast. Lavin, a former mayor of the well-to-do Santiago neighborhood of Las Condes and candidate of the right-wing Alliance for Chile, finished second with 47.52%. Among the three other candidates in the December election, environmentalist Sara Larraín won just .44% of the vote. But some experts believe Lagos must actively court supporters... [Log in to read more]