SANTIAGO, March 24 (Reuters) – Chile on Tuesday said it was withdrawing its backing for the candidacy of former President Michelle Bachelet as Secretary-General of the United Nations, ahead of an election that will decide its leader for a five-year term starting in 2027.
The withdrawal of Chile’s support comes weeks after the swearing in of President Jose Antonio Kast, marking the South American country’s sharpest shift to the right in decades.
Kast has repeatedly criticized Bachelet’s presidency and said his leftist predecessor Gabriel Boric “made a mistake” when he supported her nomination, alongside Brazil and Mexico, for the leadership of the U.N.
Bachelet was considered a frontrunner for the race.
Chile’s first female head of state and two-time president, she served as U.N. high commissioner for human rights from 2018-22 and executive director of U.N. Women from 2010-13.
“We have reached the conclusion that given the election, the various candidates of countries in Latin America and the differences with some of the actors who define this process, this candidature and its eventual success is inviable,” Chile’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that it would abstain from supporting any candidate in the election process.
(Reporting by Alexander Villegas, Editing by Iñigo Alexander and Sarah Morland. )
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