Who is Michelle Bachelet?

Michelle Bachelet, (born September 29, 1951, Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean politician who served as president of Chile (2006–10; 2014–18). She was the first female president of Chile and the first popularly elected South American female president whose political career was established independently of her husband.

She has a long standing career in politics, becoming, in 2002 the first woman to lead the Defense Ministry. In 2005 Bachelet was selected by the CPD as its presidential candidate. Her campaign focused on meeting the needs of the country’s poor, reforming the pension system, promoting the rights of women, and recognizing constitutionally the rights of the indigenous Mapuche people.

After leaving office, in 2010 Bachelet became head of the newly established UN Women (formally called the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). In December Bachelet won the runoff decisively (capturing about 62 percent of the vote to some 38 percent for Matthei) to become the first two-time president of Chile since the end of Pinochet’s rule. She took office in March 2014.