Chile’s weakened conservative Independent Democratic Union Party (UDI) on Saturday said it has picked Chilean Minister of Labor Evelyn Matthei as its new candidate for the November presidential election, which former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet is expected to win.
Matthei steps in after the right-wing party’s former candidate, Pablo Longueira, unexpectedly quit the campaign on Wednesday due to depression, sending the bloc into disarray.
Longueira had launched his campaign after the right’s previous favorite, Laurence Golborne, dropped his bid in April because of a scandal from his time as chief executive officer of retailer Cencosud.
“These are difficult times,” UDI president Patricio Melero said during a news conference. “We think Matthei is a winning candidate.”
An economist known for her blunt style, Matthei is a seasoned member of the party.
Chile has never had two female presidential front-runners.
Bachelet, who was Chile’s first female president, is expected to easily beat Matthei in the Nov. 17 general election or a potential Dec. 15 runoff. Her approval ratings hover near 75 percent, compared with about 34 percent for Matthei, according to a survey conducted by pollster CEP between November and December last year, which was the most recent such poll.
Pediatrician-turned-politician Bachelet has promised to tackle Chile’s steep inequality by raising corporate taxes to work toward funding free university-level education. She also wants to legalize abortion in some cases and reform the dictatorship-era constitution.
While Matthei’s program has not been unveiled yet, she has broadly backed conservative Chilean President Sebastian Pinera’s economic policies and said she is against free university-level education and in favor of legalizing abortion in certain cases.
Bachelet and Matthei reportedly have known each other since childhood, as both their fathers were air force generals.
However, Bachelet’s father was loyal to former socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende, who was removed in a 1973 military coup that ushered in the brutal 17-year dictatorship of former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet. He was subsequently arrested and tortured by Pinochet’s agents and died in prison months later. By contrast, Matthei’s father was a member of the junta.
The center-right National Renewal Party (RN) has not officially announced whether it will rally behind Matthei or send its own candidate into the general election, which could further split the right-wing Alliance coalition.
However, the RN’s former candidate, Andres Allamand, who narrowly lost to Longueira in the June 30 primaries, has indicated he would only revive his campaign if he were the bloc’s sole runner.
While Bachelet is expected to easily trounce rivals, analysts say the right could suffer an even sharper presidential defeat if it fails to settle on one candidate.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other