Blistering summer heat greeted Chileans as they cast votes for 120 members of the
                 lower house of parliament and 18 of the Senate's 38 elected members.

                 The right-wing opposition is expected to chip away at Lagos's Concertacion
                 coalition, which has ruled the country since Augusto Pinochet's 17-year
                 dictatorship ended in 1990.

                 Public-opinion polls predict a decline in votes for the government, but most suggest
                 it will cling to a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and garner about half the
                 Senate seats.

                 "I hope what is chosen today is a parliament that will cooperate with the president,
                 not oppose him," Lagos, a 63-year-old economist, said after voting in Santiago.

                 Two years into his six-year term, Lagos heads one of the most stable democracies
                 in Latin America.

                 Chile's solid economy contrasts with those of recession-hit neighbors Peru and
                 Argentina, the latter on the brink of a record debt default.

                 However, the feeling among many Chileans -- especially the politically influential
                 business elite -- is that Chile's export-based economy is not reaching its full
                 potential.

                 The economy is expected to grow 3.5 percent in 2001, half what it grew annually
                 in the 1990s. High unemployment, now at 9.7 percent, has persisted for the last
                 three years.

                 "People are going to punish the government for economic issues," said political
                 scientist Guillermo Holzmann.

                 NO PINOCHET

                 Chile's last Socialist president, Salvador Allende, died when forces loyal to Pinochet
                 stormed the La Moneda presidential palace in the 1973 coup.

                 Pinochet, who supporters say suffers from mild dementia, has not been an issue in
                 the elections. Chile's Appeals Court ruled him mentally unfit for trial on
                 human-rights charges in July and he has not been seen in public since.

                 Lagos, who came to power in March 2000, was known as a staunch opponent of
                 Pinochet. Resistance from the traditionalist Catholic church, right-wing business
                 circles and the armed forces has prevented him from carrying out several pet
                 projects.

                 A bill to legalize divorce was shelved until after the elections to avoid a damaging
                 run-in with the church in mid-campaign.

                 The Chilean air forc e is due to buy a fleet of F-16 warplanes from the United
                 States in the coming days, despite opposition from some in the government.

                    Copyright 2001 Reuters.