Michelle Bachelet wins presidential primary in Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile — Marking a triumphant return to politics, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet won the right to run for another four-year presidential term in November.

With 99% of the votes counted in Sunday’s primary, the surgeon-turned-politician had an overwhelming 73.1%. Her closest opponent for the nomination of the center-left coalition New Majority was Andres Velasco, with 12.9%.

Bachelet, who was president from 2006 to 2010, has remained extremely popular with Chileans. She is favored to win the general election, which will be Nov. 17.

The incumbent, Sebastian Pinera, is not eligible to seek reelection.

The primary among candidates seeking to represent Pinera’s party, the center-right coalition called Government Alliance, was much closer. Former Economy Minister Pablo Longueira led former Defense Minister Andres Allamand by a thin margin, 51.3% to 48.7%.

The voting comes as Chile’s commodities-driven economy has begun to cool, leading to widespread demonstrations by students, teachers and professors demanding free tuition from preschool through university.

Bachelet has promised that if she is elected she will push through a law to phase in free tuition at all levels by 2020. She has also promised to lessen Chile’s income extremes, partly by raising corporate taxes and tax-collection rates.

Bachelet, 61, was tortured during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship that held power from 1973 to 1990.

Since the end of her first stint in La Moneda presidential palace in 2010, Bachelet has worked as a women’s rights ambassador for the United Nations.

She has three children.

Gutierrez and Kraul are special correspondents. Gutierrez reported from Santiago and Kraul from Bogota, Colombia.