Chile elects first woman President

January 15, 2006

Michelle Bachelet became Chile's first elected female President Sunday when her rival, Sebastian Piñera, conceded defeat after trailing by six points. Bachelet, a member of the center-left group Concertación, previously served as both Health Minister and Defense Minister.

Outgoing President Ricardo Lagos called it a "historic day" and phoned Bachelet to congratulate her.

At 21:30 local time (00:30 UTC of Monday), Bachelet has said:
 * "Who had ever thought, my friends? Who thought 20, 10 or 5 years ago that Chile would elect a woman as a President? That became possible, because the citizens wanted it to. Thank you, Chile, thank you for your millions of votes. (...) My commitment as President of Chile will be to walk along you one more stretch in this big Avenue of Freedom we have been opening"

Ms. Bachelet supporters are reportedly celebrating her victory.

Results
The following results are based in the third official bulletin delivered at 20:50 local time (23:50 UTC), corresponding to the 99,71% of the total votes.