One Saturday morning in September, four men burst into Miguel Angel Bravo's home in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood of Chile's capital Santiago.

The 61-year-old accountant, who lives with his wife and daughter, had activated an alarm and put a padlock on the gate the night before.

But four armed attackers easily overcame those defenses to burst into his bedroom, beat him with an iron bar, steal his wallet and phone and make their getaway in his car.

Such attacks were almost unheard of in Chile a decade ago.

But the past decade has brought a surge in armed robberies, kidnappings and murders, turning security into a national obsession that is driving voters to the right ahead of presidential elections on November 16.

After nearly four years of center-left rule, polls show Chileans cl

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