by ir » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:40 am
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/15/chile.vote/index.html">www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/am...index.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br>Chile elects first female leader<br>Former political prisoner's victory adds to continent's shift to left<br><br>Sunday, January 15, 2006; Posted: 10:43 p.m. EST (03:43 GMT) <br><br><br>Michelle Bachelet waves to supporters Sunday in Santiago.<br> RELATED<br>A pediatrician's long road <br>YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS<br> <br> Chile <br> Michelle Bachelet <br> or Create Your Own <br>Manage Alerts | What Is This? SANTIAGO, Chile (CNN) -- Chilean voters have elected their first female president, one-time political prisoner and socialist Michelle Bachelet.<br><br>Bachelet, who has also been a doctor and serves as defense minister for the outgoing government of President Ricardo Lagos, defeated billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera in a runoff Sunday.<br><br>With more than 99 percent of precincts reporting, she had 53.5 percent of the vote to Pinera's 46.5 percent.<br><br>"I want our government to be remembered as the government by everyone and for everyone," she said.<br><br>Airline and broadcasting tycoon Pinera conceded defeat as results showed Bachelet with a solid lead and he thanked Bachelet for "her triumph today."<br><br>But the man who studied economics at Harvard vowed the fight would go on.<br><br>"We will continue to be a firm and constructive opposition."<br><br>Bachelet spent five years in exile following the 1973 coup that bought Gen. Augusto Pinochet to power.<br><br>Her father, an air force general, was tortured and killed after the U.S.-backed coup, and Bachelet herself was tortured before being sent into exile in Australia.<br><br>"What I want, and have and will always work for, is to build a society in which what happened to me and so many Chileans can never be repeated," she said in a December campaign appearance.<br><br>Bachelet completed her training as a pediatrician in East Germany and served as health minister in Chile's center-left government before becoming defense minister.<br><br>The new president is an agnostic single mother in a male-dominated, overwhelmingly Catholic society where divorce was legalized less than a year ago.<br><br>"To have a woman president shows that we are a freer, more just, more diverse, more prosperous and more modern Chile," Lagos said.<br><br>In Washington, the White House congratulated Bachelet and praised Chilean voters "for their strong commitment to democracy."<br><br>"We have an excellent, long-standing relationship with Chile and look forward to working with the new president and her team," White House spokesman David Almacy said.<br><br>Bachelet's victory adds to a leftward shift in Latin American politics.<br><br>Leftists hold presidential power in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. <br><br>Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales -- a former coca farmer and union leader who promises to nationalize the country's natural gas industry -- is slated to take office January 22. (Full story)<br><br>Bachelet is scheduled to take office March 11.<br><br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
