Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is expected to announce her candidacy for president in the November election when she returns from the United States this morning, Chilean newspaper La Tercera reported on Tuesday.
Bachelet, who served as president from 2006 to 2010, resigned from her position as under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women last week. The Party for Democracy (Partido Por la Democracia) and Socialist Party (Partido Socialista de Chile) are expected to announce her as their parties’ candidate on April 13.
Former President Eduardo Frei feels confident in Bachelet’s bid. “Everyone [in Chile] talks about her,” he said, “her friends and her enemies alike have made her campaign for her, they’ve paved the way.” A Centro de Estudios Públicos (CEP) poll is already predicting a Bachelet victory. Still, she would encounter her first challenge on the road to La Moneda on June 30—the date of the primaries to select the opposition coalition’s presidential candidate. Other candidates include Claudio Orrego of the Christian Democratic Party (Partido Demócratico Cristiano) and José Antonio Gómez of the Social Democracy Radical Party (Partido Radical Socialdemócrata).
Presidential elections are scheduled for November 17. If no candidate secures an absolute majority in the first round, a runoff election will be held on December 15.
