Reuters/Santiago


Former Chilean leader Michelle Bachelet steamed toward another presidential bid with a lopsided primary win that prompted her centre-left rivals to pledge support to her in the November election.
On the right, former economy minister Pablo Longueira will face an uphill battle against Bachelet, after he beat out rival Andres Allamand.
Bachelet, 61, who led Chile as its first female president from 2006 to 2010, received 73.07% of the vote, with 99.7% of the vote counted. Her two closest rivals in the primary, Andres Velasco and Claudio Orrego, conceded defeat on national television. “We’ll keep fighting until November 17 to get to the Moneda (presidential palace) in 2014,” Bachelet told cheering supporters.
The presidential election is scheduled for November 17 and a second round of voting would be held in mid-December if the front-runner does not get more than half of the votes.
A padiatrician-turned-politician and single mother-of-three, Bachelet is widely expected to win back the presidency.
“The big winner was Bachelet and the big losers are Allamand and Longueira, she got twice as many votes as they did ... the race in November will be for second place and not for first because if Bachelet doesn’t win in the first round, she’ll win the run-off election,” said Patricio Navia, professor at New York University and Universidad Diego Portales. Bachelet received over 1.5mn votes, compared with Longueria’s 413,000 and Allamand’s 391,000, according to preliminary figures.
A victim of torture during Chile’s dictatorship, Bachelet was one of the country’s most unusual presidents since its return to democracy in 1990. After leaving office she served as the head of UN Women, the UN’ gender equality body.
Chile’s present leader is Sebastian Pinera, a wealthy businessman who has struggled to connect with ordinary Chileans and is barred from running for immediate re-election.
Voters from Pinera’s conservative Alianza coalition gave Longueira 51.35%, versus former defence Minister Allamand’s 48.64%, according to preliminary figures. “Having won these primaries in two months is the best proof that if we get to work tomorrow we’re going to win the presidential election in November,” said a jubilant Longueira.
He took the place of businessman Laurence Golborne midway through the primary campaign, after Golborne abandoned his candidacy over a billing scandal and allegations of undeclared offshore assets.
Longueira is hampered by having served under unpopular Pinera, who broke 20 years of uninterrupted centre-left rule when he took power in 2010.