Chilean president’s popularity plummets

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Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has seen her approval rating plunge below the ‘psychological barrier’ of 40% support, the Chilean media reports.

Since taking office almost 18 months ago as Chile’s first female president, Bachelet has suffered a series of blows, including large-scale student protests and a bungled mass-transit plan for Santiago, the capital. Just last week, union activists protesting stalled wages and social inequities staged massive demonstrations in Santiago.

Bachelet, a physician, lifelong socialist and onetime political prisoner, is the leader of the center-left coalition that has overseen Chile’s return to democracy since 1990, when Augusto Pinochet, the former military strongman, was forced out. Some analysts now cite a steady erosion of support for the ruling coalition.

With the conservative opposition gearing up for a new challenge in 2009, rumors swirl that Bachelet’s popular predecessor, Ricardo Lagos, may be contemplating an electoral bid to succeed Bachelet, his former protégé.

Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires