Chile presidential candidates square off in debate
Chile presidential candidates square off in debate
| December 6, 2013 | Updated: December 6, 2013 12:28pm
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Michelle Bachelet defended promises of deep social changes while her conservative rival Evelyn Matthei said reducing poverty and crime are more important than Bachelet's call for free education during a debate ahead of the presidential elections.
Center-left Bachelet, who became Chile's first women president from 2006-2010, is now widely expected to retake the presidency in a Dec. 15 vote. During the radio debate, she backed her plan to raise corporate taxes to finance an education overhaul, change the dictatorship-era constitution and legalize same-sex marriage and abortion in some cases.
"We're not choosing between two women. We're choosing between two projects for the country where we want to live," Bachelet said.
Matthei, a fiery former labor minister, had a difficult moment in the debate when she said her campaign plans looks like Angela Merkel's Germany while Bachelet's follows the model of the former East Germany.
"In Merkel's Germany what is rewarded is the effort," she said. But a journalist reminded her that her program has very little, if any resemblance to it, because today's Germany provides free education and charges high taxes. She's against both.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Chile-presidential-candidates-square-off-in-debate-5040938.php?cmpid=usw
