Weakened Chile conservatives pick woman to take on Bachelet

[Judi Lynn]

Weakened Chile conservatives pick woman to take on Bachelet
SANTIAGO | Sat Jul 20, 2013 3:17pm EDT

(Reuters) - Chile's weakened conservative UDI party said on Saturday it has picked Labor Minister Evelyn Matthei as its new candidate in the November presidential election, which is expected to see former president Michelle Bachelet triumph.

Matthei steps in after the right-wing's former candidate Pablo Longueira unexpectedly quit the campaign on Wednesday due to depression, sending the bloc into disarray.

Longueira had launched his campaign after the right's previous favorite Laurence Golborne dropped his bid in April because of a scandal from his time as chief executive officer of retailer Cencosud.

An economist known for her blunt style, Matthei is a seasoned member of the Union Democrata Independiente (UDI) party.

Conservative Chile has never had two women presidential front runners.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/20/us-chile-election-matthei-idUSBRE96J09120130720?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

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Evelyn Matthei[/center]

[delrem]

1. Hopefully she's not just being thrown to the wolves. n/t

[Socialistlemur]

2. Bachelet looks strong

I think it will depend on Bachelet and whether she moves to the center or keeps pandering to the communist party. I like UDI's roots in subsidiarity, a principle supported by the Catholic Church in the past, which supports decentralization. Because I like a weak government to avoid human rights abuses and control of everything by an elite, I prefer subsidiarity rather than what we usually have, a powerful central government which tends to enslave us in the name of the slogan du jour which usually tends towards giving us security against an external enemy and of course making sure we have rule of law and we are all treated fairly blah blah blah.

However I don't know if UDI today is really into subsidiarity...parties do change. For example, Lincoln was the first Republican president. What a long way to the gangsters in congress today, huh?

[Peace Patriot]

3. "Conservative Chile has never had two women prez front runners." ???

Has "conservative" Venezuela?
Has "conservative" Brazil?
Has, um, "conservative" USA?

The comment makes no sense and I can only figure that Rotters likes the word "conservative."

Socialist Batchelet has an 80% approval rating in Chile. She was elected prez before. What's "conservative"?

Rotters is.

[Judi Lynn]

4. You've got that right! They'd adore a conservative universe.

It probably wears them out trying to rewrite history daily for the corporate media.

They probably are still pining for the days of Pinochet.