Chile's ex-president Michelle Bachelet cements front-runner status with landslide primary win.

AutorWitte-Lebhar, Benjamin

Former President Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010) remains the candidate to beat following presidential primary elections held June 30 for Chile's two principal political blocs: the governing Alianza and center-left Concertacion coalitions.

Bachelet won the Concertacion primary easily, scooping up 73% of the vote to secure a place on the ballot for Chile's Nov. 17 presidential election. Independent candidate Andres Velasco, who served under then President Bachelet as finance minister, finished second with 13%. Third place went to Claudio Orrego of the centrist Partido Democrata Cristiano (DC), who won less than 9% of the vote. Jose Antonio Gomez of the Partido Radical Socialdemocrata (PRSD) finished last with 5%.

"This gives us a tremendous base and a tremendous responsibility to continue advancing," Bachelet told supporters later that evening. "We've completed the first stage of this campaign, but the second stage begins now, immediately. And the presidential race isn't a done deal. The worst mistake we could make, regardless of how happy we are today because of the excellent result, would be to let our guard down and not keep working until we win, hopefully in the first round."

Bachelet's principal rival in the November election will be Pablo Longueira, who narrowly won the Alianza primary against Andres Allamand of the center-right Renovacion Nacional (RN). Longueira hails from the Union Democrata Independiente (UDI), the RN's more conservative Alianza partner. Former senators, both candidates served as ministers under President Sebastian Pinera, Chile's first conservative leader since dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

Unlike Bachelet, whose strong showing in the primary was widely anticipated, Longueira was something of an underdog going into his head-to-head showdown with Allamand. The UDI veteran entered the race late, announcing his candidacy just two months ago after his party's original contender, Laurence Golborne, was forced out amid a pair of financial scandals (NotiSur, May 10, 2013). Allamand, in contrast, had been campaigning since last November, when both he and Golborne gave up their respective ministerial posts to focus on the race.

Pundits predicted that Allamand's more-moderate views would also be an asset against Longueira, an unapologetic conservative who began his political career as a junior-level advisor in the Pinochet government's Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo. With support from the Alianza's rightwing...

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