First female president to be sworn in as Chile's president
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-03-11 14:51

Socialist single mother Michelle Bachelet is set to be sworn in as Chile's first female president, ushering in a new era in the socially conservative country which is moving aggressively to shed the legacy of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.

Socialist single mother Michelle Bachelet, seen here, is set to be sworn in as Chile's first female president, ushering in a new era in the socially conservative country which is moving aggressively to shed the legacy of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. [AFP]

Representatives from 120 countries were expected to take par in the ceremony that will take place in the port city of Valparaiso.

The United States will be represented by Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, who was expected to use her visit to Chile to hold talks with Bachelet and outgoing President Ricardo Lagos as well as Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay.

Bachelet's government will extend the rule of the center-left coalition that has governed the South American country since the end of Pinochet's regime in 1990.

"Who would have believed five or 10 years ago that Chile would elect a woman president," Bachelet, 54, told thousands of cheering fans at a victory rally in Santiago in January.

She garnered 53.5 percent of the vote, seven points ahead of conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera, and won in all but one of the country's 13 regions.

Her electoral victory had been widely anticipated, though her lead was stronger than expected.

An agnostic single mother of three, Bachelet might not have seemed an obvious choice for leadership in this socially conservative Roman Catholic country.

But the economic successes of the current administration evidently played a significant role in her election.

Bachelet has pledged to pursue the policies of President Lagos, a fellow socialist who won praise for his management of Latin America's star economy.

Bachelet, who has portrayed herself as an ordinary woman who understands the concerns of ordinary people, takes the helm of a country enjoying six percent annual economic growth but the second-biggest gap between the rich and poor in Latin America.

According to her associates, Bachelet is an indefatigable worker who sleeps little but enjoys parties and dancing. She is spontaneous, a straight-talker, affable and smiles easily, but at times can be stern.

Her suffering during the Pinochet regime has also won her sympathy from many people in a country still scarred by the 17-year dictatorship.

She and her parents were tortured during the military regime.

Her father, Alberto Bachelet, was an adviser to socialist president Salvador Allende, who was toppled by Pinochet in 1973. Tortured while in prison, Bachelet's father died six months later.

Her inauguration comes three days before the 32nd anniversary of her father's death.

In her first post-election speech in January, Bachelet paid tribute to him.

"At this moment there's someone who would be very proud. This man is my father," she said at the time. "I feel that, in an inexplicable way, I am close to him."

In 1975, she and her mother were held for about two weeks at Villa Grimaldi, an infamous torture center. The two women later fled, first to Australia and then to East Germany, where Bachelet completed her medical studies.

Pinochet, 90, was not allowed to vote in the January 15 election because he was awaiting trial over the deaths of dissidents during his dictatorship.

At least 3,000 opponents of the dictatorship died or disappeared during his regime.