Posted on 01/15/2006 7:08:40 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
SOCIALIST Michelle Bachelet, 54, will become the first woman to govern Chile, after defeating conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera in the run-off presidential election.
A former defence minister, Ms Bachelet garnered 53.23 per cent of the vote, more than six points ahead of Pinera, according to partial results.
Ms Bachelet's victory will extend the rule of the centre-left coalition that has governed the South American country since the 1990 collapse of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
Her electoral victory had been widely anticipated, even though the agnostic single mother of three was not an obvious choice for leadership in this socially conservative Catholic country.
Both Ms Bachelet's campaign and that of her rival said her lead was stronger than they had anticipated.
"I am delighted as a Chilean woman by this result," said former foreign minister Soledad Alvear, who last year gave up her plan to run for president in order to support Ms Bachelet.
Mr Pinera congratulated Ms Bachelet on her victory, and pledged to lead a strong and constructive opposition.
Celebrations broke out in the streets of Santiago shortly after the results were announced, and supporters cheered and honked their car horns as they headed to a downtown hotel where Ms Bachelet was expected to celebrate her triumph.
"I feel like a very fortunate woman," Ms Bachelet, told national television earlier yesterday.
"I was the first woman in Chile's history to be minister of health, and the first woman minister of defence, and if I am elected, I would be Chile's first woman president. That means so much to so many women."
During her campaign, she said she would take advantage of record copper prices to improve education and conditions for the less fortunate.
Ms Bachelet has portrayed herself as an ordinary woman who understands the concerns of ordinary people.
"I work, I take care of my home and I drop my daughter off at school. But I'm also a Chilean who feels a calling to fight for justice and to public service."
Her suffering during the Pinochet era has won sympathy from many people in a country still scarred by the 17-year dictatorship.
Ms Bachelet's father, an air force general, was an adviser to socialist president Salvador Allende who was toppled by Pinochet in 1973. Tortured while in prison, Ms Bachelet's father died six months later.
In 1975, she and her mother were held for about two weeks at Villa Grimaldi, a notorious torture centre.
The two women later fled, first to Australia and then to East Germany, where Ms Bachelet completed her medical studies.
More than eight million people were required to cast their ballots yesterday. But Pinochet, 90 - who holds voter ID number one - was not allowed to vote because he is awaiting trial over the deaths of dissidents during his 17-year dictatorship.
He has been released on bond from the house arrest that was ordered as he awaits trial in one case, but on Wednesday, the appeals court in Santiago also lifted the immunity he enjoyed as an ex-president, clearing the way for his trial in another case.
The Soviet's plan for global domination... delayed by 35 years.
This will only offer another example of how socialism doesn't work. Even though there are gobs of examples, they always feel the need to provide one more. They have obviously never read "The Road to Serfdom"...
'...single mother of three...'
When was Jesse Jackson down there ?
Americans obviously don't OWN Latin America, and being friends means you can't always play the THREAT card of some kind of an invasion, that is geared to protect the interests of what they perceive as an Imperialistic Dominion based upon greed. Maybe the USA should try some good neighbor policies of trying to understand the diversity and accept national sovereignty when the people rejoice. That is democracy. The people of Chile voted, and they elected a candidate. I doubt that the ole Russian empire had much to do with it, compared to the millions of people in Chile who work exceedingly long hours, for little pay, and never experience what they understand to be social justice.
Socialism is just as bad as communism. It doesn't matter what it's named under wheather it's Welfare or The New Deal
Hey, when was Slick Willy or a cartload of Kennedys down there?
So ends the excellent free-market run for Chile. Just when things get going well, people can't stand their success, and have to go ruin it with socialism.
Oh well. Going to Santiago in a few weeks. Good wine, still, and beaches. Summer in Chile beats winter in Fargo!
However, the new President is definitely not going to tamper with Chile's free-enterprise system. Even Socialists learn over time.
Sure, the old Soviet nomenklatura had nothing to do with it. The Socialist International has taken another tack since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. They have rejected vanguardism and have embraced a Trotskyist "united front" approach.
What is social justice? To be left alone by the state. To have the state equally protect the life and property rights of all. More state intervention than that in private lives is a reduction in social justice. So, how can a socialist ever increase social justice except by accident?
Part of the problem this time was that two right-wing parties split the more conservative vote. Perhaps they could have overturned the coalition if they'd worked together as the left and center-left do.
Chile is one of the most middle-class countries in South America, so it's not likely that Bachelet will go very far in the direction of Chavez or Morales. It's more the cultural shock than any concern about economic or military changes.
The concern isn't that Bachelet is a woman, but because she's an atheist, a European-style feminist, and a divorcee who also had children out of wedlock. For better or for worse, it's not your father's South America.
Bachelet did have some very radical ties during the dictatorship but so far she represents a more European neo-bourgeois left in a middle class democracy, rather than bearded guys in the mountains with guns. The hope is that the Socialists' coalition partners won't let the country slide too far to the left as regards economics or alliances. Time will tell, though.
Red tide rising
Friends dont let friends descend into Brutal Communist Dictatorships.
Hmmm. What did I write to get this kind of response? I did not invalidate the legitimacy of their election in my comments, I simply stated they are being led down a disasterous path, and it isn't as if there were no carcasses of previous socialist countires out there that should serve as a warning.
So, you must have misunderstood my point, which would account for your abrasive response.
You wrote: "...compared to the millions of people in Chile who work exceedingly long hours, for little pay, and never experience what they understand to be social justice."
By this comment, I presume you make the assertion that the Chileans perceive socialism as a cure for social injustice? Got a flash for you fella. If they think socialism is going to be a cure for long hours, little pay and social injustice, they are going to be disappointed.
One of the interesting things about socialism is that it is an unachievable utopia that just sounds "oh so good". Most people who went to college and took sociology are completely sucked in by logic and tidiness of it (myself included) A planned economy is great! Everything is planned out down to the last nail, in the last board, on the last house, including the gas it took to take the truck there and the food needed to feed the worker.
This all sounds SO good that every country that tries it says "We are going to do it RIGHT! ALL the other countries that tried it and failed did it wrong."
Maybe we should accept "Diversity" (in your words)? I am curious-what do you really mean by the word "diversity" and why and how did it find its way into your discussion?
Please explain yourself, I really am curious. You have the best interest of the Chileans in mind, I am sure. And you have very strong feelings on the subject. I can tell where your sympathies lie, that is plain, so I really would like to hear your views on this subject. Explain how socialism is going to lead to anything other than long hours, little pay and social injustice? Oh, I am sure the Chileans will all be suffused with the glow of knowing that the weakest amonsgt them are treated as well and as fairly as the strongest (I got through that without a snicker) but will it reduce their working hours, increase their pay or improve "social justice"?
You want to bet money on that...
I would bet in less than after a year in office she will start trying to federalize parts of Chile's free enterprise system.
You said: "...Socialism promises the world and delivers the idea of the easy way out of problems...."
Did you mean: "...Socialism promises the world and FOOLS PEOPLE INTO ACCEPTING THAT IT IS the idea of the easy way out of problems..."
In another way yes.
I didn't think you were buying into it...I knew what you meant...:)
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