Chilean Student Leader Backs Bachelet's Reform
Chilean Student Leader Backs Bachelet's Reform
SANTIAGO, Chile November 22, 2013 (AP)
Camila Vallejo, the public face of Chile's student movement, is backing presidential favorite Michelle Bachelet's proposed reform of the country's education system.
The nose-ringed geography student led millions into the streets since 2011 asserting the right to free education. Vallejo and three other student leaders were elected to Congress Sunday.
The 25-year-old Communist Party member said Thursday that she's confident Bachelet's coalition will have enough seats in Congress to achieve education reform.
Bachelet led Chile from 2006-10. She nearly doubled her conservative rival's votes in the first round of the vote and is widely expected to retake the presidency in a December runoff.
Her coalition already has the votes in Congress needed to raise taxes, but lacks the super-majorities to change the dictatorship-era electoral system and constitution.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chilean-student-leader-backs-bachelets-reform-20970672
(Short article, no more at link.)
