Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet launches bid for second term.
| Autor | Witte-Lebhar, Benjamin |
Back home after a several-year hiatus abroad, former President Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010) has made a late--though not altogether unexpected--leap into Chile's presidential race. The last to join the country's crowded field of contenders, the popular ex-president nevertheless begins her quest for a second term as the clear favorite. Elections are scheduled to take place Nov 17.
Bachelet officially launched her bid on March 27, just hours after returning to Chile from the US, where she spent two and one-half years as head of the New York City-based UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). "Here I am, together with you, ready to take on this challenge, which is personal, but above all else, collective," Bachelet told supporters in El Bosque, a working-class Santiago suburb where she spent part of her childhood. "With joy, determination, and a lot of humility, I've made the decision to be a candidate."
The announcement put an end to years of "will she, won't she" talk about the 61-year-old politician, who left office three years ago with approval ratings above 80% and, according to poll after poll, remains the country's most popular political figure. Bachelet, who was prevented by Chilean law from seeking immediate re-election, ceded power in early 2010 to President Sebastian Pinera of the conservative Alianza coalition. She was the last of four consecutive presidents from the center-left Concertacion coalition, which led Chile for two decades following the end of the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
Bachelet will first test her front-runner status in a coalition primary, set for late June, as a representative of both the Partido Socialista (PS) and Partido por la Democracia (PPD). The Concertacion's other member parties, the Partido Radical Social Democrata (PRSD) and centrist Partido Democrata Cristiano (DC), will be represented by Sen. Jose Antonio Gomez and ex-Penalolen mayor Claudio Orrego, respectively. Andres Velasco, a Harvard-educated economist who served as Bachelet's finance minister, will also participate in the primary--as an independent.
The governing Alianza coalition, which ties together the center-right Renovacion Nacional (RN) and hard-right Union Democrata Independiente (UDI), is planning its own June primary. The contest will feature just two candidates: Andres Allamand, an RN co-founder and former senator who recently served a spell as defense minister, and Laurence Golborne (UDI), who held several ministerial posts under Pinera. Golborne soared to political prominence in 2010...
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