Former Chilean president Eduardo Frei on Sunday won the ruling center-left coalition’s primary, setting the stage for a battle against center-right candidate Sebastian Pinera in the December presidential poll.
Frei, who governed as head of the Concertacion alliance from 1994 to 2000, had already emerged as its main candidate to take on Pinera, a billionaire and the frontrunner to win the presidency.
President Michelle Bachelet cannot run for re-election.
“This result is as clear as water: The people have won, the right has lost,” Frei said. “We are going to continue with all the policies of our president and our government which mean social protection,” he said.
Frei, the son of a former Chilean president, won 64 percent of the primary vote, comfortably edging out rival Jose Antonio Gomez, who polled 36 percent. Gomez threw his support behind Frei after conceding defeat.
But the coalition faces one of its toughest election years since taking power at the end of general Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship some two decades ago.
Chile’s economy, long regarded as one of the most stable in Latin America, is facing a sharp slowdown as the global financial crisis reduces consumer demand and cuts export earnings from copper, the country’s top commodity.
Analysts widely expect the economy to grow slightly or contract this year.
Bachelet’s government has been battered in polls in the past year amid complaints of mismanagement of government funds, high inflation, a wave of sometimes violent student protests and a botched revamp of the capital Santiago’s transit system.
But a US$4 billion fiscal stimulus plan unveiled in January in a bid to fend off a recession, as well as a newly announced batch of measures aimed at spurring private sector credit, were well received.
Bachelet’s approval rating rose in March to 62.2 percent, the highest level since she took office in 2006, a poll showed on Thursday.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS