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...
