Americas going to the left

[deep]

Chile libre

Chileans seen electing woman president in vote

Sun Jan 15, 2006 8:15 PM GMT7

Chileans vote for new president Play

By Fiona Ortiz

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Chileans voted for a new president on Sunday and were expected to elect the South American country's first woman leader, a socialist who is seen beating a moderate conservative billionaire.

Michelle Bachelet, 54, a medical doctor and former defence minister imprisoned and tortured during the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, would be the fourth consecutive president from the centre-left coalition that formed in the 1980s to oppose Pinochet. It has run the copper-producing country of 16 million people since he stepped down in 1990.

The first polling stations to open in the morning began closing at 4:00 p.m. (2 p.m. EST/1900 GMT) and the first results are expected at around 6:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. EST/2130

GMT).

"Today is the day of the citizens. It's their decision. We're very calm and very optimistic," Bachelet, who had a 5-point lead over opponent Sebastian Pinera in a poll published this week, said before entering a polling station in eastern Santiago to vote.


A Bachelet victory would consolidate a shift to the left in Latin America, where leftists now run Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela, some with politics more extreme than others. A socialist will soon take office in Bolivia and a leftist is favoured to win Mexico's presidential election in July.


Last month, Bachelet won 46 percent of the vote in a four-way first-round. That was short of the absolute majority she needed to avoid a runoff against Pinera, 56, who came in second with 25 percent.

 

[financeguy]

I don't know that much about South American politics but I tend to suspect that when their North American neighbour (or more accurately, its government) shifts so far to the right, they will tend to shift to the left almost in reaction - plus mix in a dose of socialist rhetoric which understandably many ordinary people fall for as they think it will improve their lot in life (though it usually doesn't).

As a moderate conservative (some here may be surprised to hear that but there you go, I consider myself a moderate conservative), I have pretty much equal contempt for those in powerful positions who pose as conservatives but are really aggressive interventionist Troskyites (the neo-'conservative' movement) or 'f*** the poor' feudalists wearing the 'Christian' banner, as I do for the romantic late 19th century delusion called socialism.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Left or Right doesn't seem to make much of a difference in that region, they always seem to get ripped off.

 

[melon]

Bush's foreign policy legacy will probably be how he mobilized the rest of the world in opposition to him. I wouldn't doubt that's why South America has shifted so far left.

Melon

 

[VertigoGal]

No doubt outspoken opposition to Bush combined with misty eyed socialist rhetoric is a very successful platform in Latin America right now. I understand the appeal it has.

Funnily enough, I get the feeling that whether or not a socialist is elected President in Mexico, they will still keep coming here.

I'm not saying a moderate form of socialism couldn't "work" only that I sort of get the impression A_Wanderer's comment is pretty accurate.

 

[Zoomerang96]

Bush's foreign policy legacy will probably be how he mobilized the rest of the world in opposition to him. I wouldn't doubt that's why South America has shifted so far left.

Melon

this appears to be the case.

...

...

...*cough

with ONE...small exception.

-signed on behalf of your friendly neighbours to the north.

 

[A_Wanderer]

India would also be an exception to that rule.

 

[Zoomerang96]

but in terms of "americas"...

 

[Kieran McConville]

so the consensus guys, is we're giving them permission? thats nice.