Woman Garners Most Votes in Chilean Presidential Election

A Socialist and former political prisoner seeking to become Chile’s first female president came in first place in national voting Sunday but was headed for a runoff election next month.

Michelle Bachelet, candidate of the center-left coalition that has ruled Chile since dictator Augusto Pinochet left office in 1990, won about 46% of the vote, according to results from 96% of the ballots cast. That was more than 20 percentage points ahead of her two top challengers, both conservatives.

The results confirmed widespread projections that Bachelet, a former minister of health and of defense in the government of President Ricardo Lagos, would not garner a majority and would have to face a second round of voting Jan. 15. Lagos is barred by law from seeking reelection.

The electoral results indicated that her coalition would also control both houses of Congress, allowing her a wide berth if she triumphed next month. She is the heavy favorite.

The long-dominant coalition here favors free trade and has stewarded a steady growth in the economy; critics, however, say the gap between rich and poor has grown in the country of 16 million. Chile is one of the principal U.S. allies in a region where populist, left-wing governments have been increasingly coming into office, a trend that is worrying the Bush administration.

Casting her vote early Sunday on a brilliant, warm day in Santiago, the capital, Bachelet told reporters that “today, women and men, we all count for the same. We count for one vote each. We are all part of Chile.”

Later, addressing a victory rally in downtown Santiago, Bachelet promised to reinvigorate her campaign in the five weeks until the runoff. “We women are accustomed to working twice as hard as men,” she told an enthusiastic crowd. “I will be the president of Chile.”

The candidacy of Bachelet, 54, has attracted international attention because of her story as well as her gender. Many Chileans have been captivated by her personal trajectory and longtime struggle against the dictatorship of Pinochet, who seized control in a coup launched Sept. 11, 1973, against the government of then-President Salvador Allende.

Bachelet’s father, Alberto, an air force general loyal to Allende, was jailed the day of the coup and later tortured. He died of a heart attack while in custody.

Bachelet and her mother were also arrested and suffered abuse under the Pinochet government but were allowed to flee the country. Mother and daughter eventually settled in East Germany, where Michelle Bachelet became active in the Chilean resistance movement and married a fellow exile.

She and her mother eventually returned to Chile, and Bachelet continued the socialist activism that she had begun as a young medical student. She is a single mother of three separated from her husband -- a status that has raised eyebrows in this conservative nation, where divorce was legalized only last year.

Still, Bachelet has proved popular among Chileans, especially women, who were expected to vote overwhelmingly for her.

“We need a woman. She will understand our needs more than any man,” said Margarita Chavez, 62, who was seated in the capital’s Plaza de Armas, near a giant Christmas tree. “She has suffered a lot in her life, but she has a strong soul and a strong heart.”

Sitting next to Chavez was Felipe Hernan, a supermarket worker, who disagreed.

“Chile needs a man to take a strong hand against crime,” said Hernan, 36, expressing the viewpoint of many male voters. “They won’t take a woman seriously.”

But Bachelet won support among many men who saw her as continuing the stable rule of the center-left coalition, known as the Concertacion, that has ruled for a decade and a half. If elected, Bachelet would head the coalition’s fourth government.

“I like Bachelet: She has a lot of spunk,” said Christian Farina, a 38-year-old social worker who was also seated in the central plaza. “She can be boring sometimes in her speeches, but I think she has the right values.”

In the second round, Bachelet will face Sebastian Pinera, a billionaire businessman who garnered about 25% of the vote. The third-place finisher was Joaquin Lavin, a former mayor of Santiago, who had about 23% of the vote. Lavin promised to support Pinera in a conservative alliance meant to defeat Bachelet.

In fourth place was a left-wing candidate, Tomas Hirsch, who had won about 5%. Hirsch, who has called President Bush a “terrorist,” had scored impressively in two televised debates.

Pinochet, who recently turned 90, remains under house arrest facing charges of corruption and abuse of human rights. Said to be suffering from dementia, he is fighting a legal battle to stay out of jail.

Andres D’Alessandro of The Times’ Buenos Aires Bureau contributed to this report.