Encounter Quarterly: Winter 2006
Chile Elects First Female President
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Michelle Bachelet won a
January 15 runoff election to become Chile's
first female president. |
SANTIAGO, Chile. In January, Chilean
voters elected socialist doctor and former political
prisoner Michelle Bachelet to the nation’s
presidency over conservative candidate Sebastián
Piñera. Bachelet is the first woman to be elected
president of Chile. The January 15 runoff came after
a 4-way presidential election in December failed to
produce a winner with a majority. A political
prisoner during the dictatorship of General Augusto
Pinochet, Bachelet was the defense minister under a
later center-left government. Bachelet’s victory
reflects a continuing resurgence of left-wing
political parties in Latin America.
EQ Winter 2006 Issue Main Page
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