Chile Elects First Female President

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STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Next we're going to Chile, which elected its first female president in a runoff election yesterday. Her name is Michelle Bachelet. She's a Socialist and a medical doctor who was imprisoned and tortured during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Bachelet celebrated her successful bid with an impassioned speech to thousands of supporters. They were outside her campaign headquarters in the capital, Santiago, and this speech was carried live on Chilean national television.

(Soundbite of speech)

President-elect MICHELLE BACHELET (Chile): (Through Translator) Who would have imagined, friends? Who would have imagined? Who would have imagined 20, 10 or five years ago that Chile would elect a woman as its president? It seemed difficult, but it was possible. It is possible because citizens wanted it, because democracy allowed it.

INSKEEP: We're going to learn more about this election now from Claudio Fuentes. He's director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Science, which is a research institute based in Santiago.

Welcome to the program.

Mr. CLAUDIO FUENTES (Latin American Faculty of Social Science): Hi. How are you?

INSKEEP: How did Michelle Bachelet get to this moment?

Mr. FUENTES: I think it was because, first, in terms of like the last 60 years, the government was able to reduce poverty, keeping unemployment low and a huge effort in terms of social policy and infrastructure and...

INSKEEP: And although she's a new president, she's a representative of the same alliance that has governed Chile recently.

Mr. FUENTES: Right. I mean, the same coalition have been very successful in the last 15 year and also because she represent a new, charismatic personality. I think that people wanted to have non-traditional politician running this country.

INSKEEP: How much did she talk in the campaign about her past of imprisonment and torture?

Mr. FUENTES: I think that very little, despite what she have had as a background in term of like being tortured, her father being killed by the military regime, but the people knew about that. She didn't use that as a campaign issue, but a lot of people recognizing here a woman that was able to overcome difficulties during her life, and I think that that was very appealing for the people.

INSKEEP: And was this seen by some Chileans as an opportunity to make a statement about their country's past?

Mr. FUENTES: Totally. I think that it is a very strong statement of non-traditional woman, from a political party that is the Socialist Party, but she's very recognized as close-to-the-people kind of like personality, and I think that that appeal a lot of people toward for--her.

INSKEEP: Did her gender become an issue?

Mr. FUENTES: Yeah. During the campaign, the gender issue was very relevant. Chile has very low level of political participation of women and also a low level of participation of women in the work force, so that was an issue. And she was the first one to address that last night.

INSKEEP: How did she answer that? Was there a concern that a woman could not lead the country?

Mr. FUENTES: At the beginning of the campaign, the opposition made that statement. I think that people realized that was a crucial issue, and actually in the elections, you see more women voting for her, which is breaking also a past that, in general, women tend to vote more conservative here in Chile. But now with this woman as a candidate, most women vote for her, which is another change in the political system in Chile.

INSKEEP: Mr. Fuentes, thanks very much.

Mr. FUENTES: OK, you're welcome.

INSKEEP: We've been talking to Claudio Fuentes, director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Science, a research institute based in Santiago, Chile, one of two countries that have just chosen female presidents.

And by the way, the first female head of state in Finland faces a fight to keep her job. According to final election results, President Tarja Halonen fell short of 50 percent of the vote, and that means she's been forced into a runoff election against the second-place challenger. She said, `It's a pity, but no use to complain.'

By the way, this election is of special interest to viewers of American late-night television. To some people, Finland's president bears a resemblance to the late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien, so he's been promoting her re-election bid on his program on NBC.

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