Socialist Party of Chile

The Socialist Party of Chile (Spanish: Partido Socialista de Chile, or PS) is a political party within the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy. Its historic leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973. Twenty-seven years later, the President of Chile Ricardo Lagos Escobar represented the Socialist Party in the 1999 presidential elections. He won 48.0% in the first round of voting and was elected with 51.3% in the second round. In the last legislative elections on December 16, 2001, as part of the Coalition of Parties for Democracy, the party won 10 out of 117 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 5 out of 38 elected seats in the Senate. After the 2005 elections, the Party increased its seats to 15 and 8, respectively. In the 2009 elections, it retained 11 Congressional and 5 Senate seats.

Socialist Michelle Bachelet Jeria won the 2005 Presidential election. She was the first female president of Chile until 2010, when Sebastián Piñera became President.