Plan to scrap 'his and hers' polling in Chile

SANTIAGO - Chile is likely to elect its first woman leader on Monday, but men and women still vote in separate polling stations in a system that many Chileans consider old-fashioned and that may soon be scrapped.

Socialist Michelle Bachelet is the front-runner in the race and could become only the fourth elected woman leader in Latin America.

The tradition of segregated voting dates back to women's suffrage in 1935, but there is a bill before Congress to combine polling stations.

Chile has up until very recently been considered one of the region's most conservative societies. However, attitudes about birth control, divorce, homosexuality and religion have become more liberal in recent years.

Chile is the only country in the region that maintains gender-segregated voting. Men and women in Argentina and Ecuador vote at different tables, but in the same building.

Bachelet is running against centre-right candidate Sebastian Pinera, one of Chile's wealthiest men and a former senator.

- REUTERS