Roberto Jorquera
The election of the Socialist Party's Michelle Bachelet as president on January 11, with 3.6 million votes (53%), was greeted with street parties throughout Chile. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez immediately rang Bachelet and congratulated her. In response, Bachelet invited Chavez to attend her inauguration on March 15.
Although Bachelet was a candidate for the Concertacion, the coalition that has governed Chile under strict neoliberal policies since General Augusto Pinochet was ousted in 1990, the majority of Chileans are demanding a change of line.
One of the challenges facing Bachelet is to change the first-past-the-post electoral system that was imposed by Pinochet in 1989. This system has allowed the right to dominate the national congress, while the Chilean Communist Party, which received around 10% of the vote, has no representation.
On January 21, it was announced that General Augusto Pinochet would lose his immunity from prosecution to face charges over a notorious torture centre where Bachelet was held in 1975. There is enormous pressure for those who committed crimes during the dictatorship to be brought to justice.
But the biggest challenges facing Bachelet will come from the trade union movement, which will continue to demand a reversal of the neoliberal polices of the last two decades. On December 17, Rebelion.org reported that Guillermo Teillier, the president of the Chilean Communist Party, reminded Bachelet that without the support of the left she would not have won. "We now hope that Bachelet will fulfill the promises that she has made before the people and trade unionists. We are now going to start to fight to make sure that those promises are implemented", said Teillier.
From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.
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