‹ 2002  2010 ›
| ||||
| Chilean Presidential election, 2006 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 15-February 12, 2006 | ||||
|
|
|||
| Candidate | Joaquín Lavín | Jesús Cohn Martinelli | ||
| Party | UG | PR | ||
| Alliance | CDN | none | ||
|
|
|||
| Candidate | Michelle Bachelet | Enrique Borrero | ||
| Party | PSDP | PDS | ||
| Alliance | PSDP-PCCh | none | ||
The Chilean Presidential election of 2006 was held on January 15 and February 12 to elect the President of Chile. The election featured four candidates, two from parties on the left after the split up of the People's Democratic Unity (PSDP-PCCh pact and PDS). This electoral split sent the favored rightist coalition CDN candidate Joaquín Lavín and Radical Party candidate Jesús Cohn Martinelli to the runoff, where Lavín won 54.2%-45.8%. The election returned the Chilean right to power with Lavín as President, although he would be forced to moderate many of his positions from the 1990s after the National and Christian Democratic Parties wound up seizing the largest share of seats in the coalition in that January's congressional election.
The election is best known for coming right after outgoing President Isabel Allende's disastrous and much-maligned decision to invite the Communist Party to join the UDP, causing the Party of Social Democracy to stage a televised walk-out of the coalition convention in November of 2005. This collapse of the left fragmented the left almost irreparably.