She ended her presidency in 2010 with a sky-high approval rating of 84%. Barring an upset, Michelle Bachelet looks set to return for a second term next year with her popularity undiminished. On June 30th she comfortably won a primary election in the Concertacion, Chile's centre-left coalition, taking 73% of the vote. Little seems to stand between her and victory in November's election. She would be the first president in 81 years to win a second term (consecutive terms are not allowed). Her opponent in that race will be Pablo Longueira, a combative former economy minister and stalwart of the conservative Independent Democratic Union. Mr Longueira narrowly won the centre-right primary, staged on the same day. He has a lot of ground to make up: of the 3m votes cast in the two primaries, Ms Bachelet took over 1.5m, nearly twice as many as the two centre-right candidates combined.
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