CHILE: Socialist Party candidate Michelle Bachelet, a political prisoner during Gen Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship and a single mother of three, was elected president on Sunday, the first woman to lead a country long considered one of the most culturally traditional in Latin America. She vowed yesterday to shrink the gap between Chile's rich and poor. "What is important is that we guarantee decent and dignified work to all Chileans ... what is important is that everybody has the same rights and the same opportunities," she told her first press conference as president- elect.
Ms Bachelet won 53 per cent of the vote, while billionaire businessman Sebastian Piqera polled about 47 per cent. Thousands of supporters filled the streets around Ms Bachelet's election night headquarters here to celebrate, waving banners and chanting her name.
"I never thought I would see this happen," said Margarita Flores (35), a supporter, holding a bag of confetti. "Finally, a woman."
Ms Bachelet's victory will keep the Socialist Party in the presidential palace for four more years, following the presidency of Ricardo Lagos. When Mr Lagos won the 2000 election, it was the first time a socialist had held the seat in Chile since 1973, when Gen Pinochet overthrew the government of Salvador Allende.
Ms Bachelet is the daughter of an air force general who served under Mr Allende and who was imprisoned and tortured after the coup and died in prison.
Two years later, government forces detained Ms Bachelet and her mother, putting them in prison, where they were tortured. She eventually went into exile in Australia and Europe, returning to Chile in 1979 to work as a paediatrician. Under Mr Lagos, she became health minister in 2000 and defence minister in 2002.
"You know that I have not had an easy life, but who has had an easy life?" she told supporters on Sunday night during a victory speech. "Violence entered my life, destroying what I loved. Because I was a victim of hate, I have dedicated my life to turn that hate into understanding, into tolerance and, why not say it, into love."
"It is a historic triumph," Mr Lagos said in a televised speech Sunday evening. "We are a new Chile, and having a woman as president shows that."
With Ms Bachelet's election, Chilean voters continued a regional trend toward the political left in national elections.
The most recent presidential elections in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia have brought liberal or socialist candidates to power, creating two distinct groupings of leaders in South America.
In countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia, the prevailing political discourse questions the benefits of free-trade agreements and encourages more independence from US government and business interests.
Ms Bachelet, however, is expected to fall into the second grouping, represented by fiscally conservative presidents who aim to direct government spending toward social programmes.
The Lagos government was close to the United States on trade matters and was the first South American government to sign a bilateral trade pact with the US.
Ms Bachelet inherits from Mr Lagos a thriving economy, which has benefited from soaring copper prices. Modernisation was a cornerstone of the Lagos government; Santiago's subway system has doubled its length, for example.
Many Chileans, however, moved by the soft, motherly image Ms Bachelet at times projected during her campaign, hope she will spread the wealth to more of those in need.
"Many here think Chile doesn't have a soul and has very little sensitivity for its people," said Raul Sohr, a political analyst in Santiago.
"There's been a lot of growth in recent years, but the distribution of income is still appalling. A lot of people are hoping that she'll put a little heart into the very technocratic changes that previous administrations have made."
Ms Bachelet has promised to reform Chile's private pension system, which was singled out by US president George W. Bush as a possible model for privatising the US social security system, but the system is often criticised in Chile for failing to adequately protect the poor. Ms Bachelet also promised childcare for low-income mothers and she has pledged to fill at least half of her cabinet posts with women.
Sunday's election, a run-off between Ms Bachelet and Mr Piqera, was called when no candidate won a majority in a first round of voting in December, in which Ms Bachelet won 46 per cent of the vote and Mr Piqera 26 per cent.
Mr Piqera (56) is one of Chile's wealthiest citizens, owning parts of the country's largest airline, bank, shipping company and industrial group.
Representing a coalition of conservative parties, he reached out to centrist voters who have consistently voted into power a coalition of liberal parties in every election since Gen Pinochet left office.
In the waning days of the campaign, Mr Piqera emphasised his Christian faith - an implicit counterpoint to Ms Bachelet, who publicly describes herself as agnostic. Chile is predominantly Catholic and legalised divorce for the first time in late 2004.
Many voters though said they were attracted to her compassion and the promise of change she represented. At one point during the campaign she took a short break to vacation with her daughter and she has emphasised that she seeks to balance her roles as a political figure and a mother.
"People are expecting changes with Bachelet," said Marta Lagos, a Santiago-based pollster with Mori-Chile. "They're not expecting political changes as much as cultural ones - less discrimination and more openness."
The ranks of working women in Chile have doubled since 1990, but the figure still stands at only 36 per cent.
Women earn 30 to 40 per cent less than their male counterparts, according to Chile's government agency that deals with women's issues. - (Los Angeles Times-Washington Post service)