Make that twelve

In yesterday's post about Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, I wrote that she was one of only 11 woman heads of government in the world. You'd better make that twelve because I see this morning that Chile has just elected its first woman president.

Michelle Bachelet, a 54 year old socialist, who is a former Defence Minister and was imprisoned and tortured under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, won 53.5% of the vote in the final round run-off against opposition candidate Sebastian Pinera. Pinera conceded defeat with some 97% of the ballots counted. Bloomberg has a more detailed article about the Chilean electoral race and Bachelet's victory.

So twelve female heads of government, eh? It's a veritable trend. How wonderful. The steady rise of left-wing politicians throughout South America is starting to look remarkably trend-like too. GWB won't like that one bit.

[Hat-tip: Just Left]

Tags:
Chile
politics