Chile's presidential candidate for the center-left coalition Michelle Bachelet gives a thumbs up after casting her vote next to her daughter Sofia during the country's presidential elections, 15 January 2006 in Santiago.

SANTIAGO, Jan. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Michelle Bachelet, of the ruling left-wing party, has won Chile's second round presidential vote with more than 97 percent counted, making her Chile's first woman president, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

    Bachelet, candidate of the ruling Coalition for Democracy, won 53.51 percent of the vote while Sebastian Pinera, her rival for the presidency, won 46.48 percent.

    Pinera, a right-wing businessman, admitted defeat and offered his congratulations on Bachelet's election.

    "I congratulate Michelle on her victory, not only because she will be the first female president of Chile, but also as a homage to the millions of Chilean women who have managed to reach the place that they deserve in this society," he told Chilean media.

    Meanwhile, Chile's incumbent president, Ricardo Lagos, told Bachelet by telephone that: "Today is a great day for Chile. It is a historic day because a woman like you has reached the Moneda Palace (Chile's seat of government)."

    Andres Zaldivar, a senator for the right-wing Christian Democrat Party, said he was sure that Bachelet would govern for all Chileans, saying, "She has been a good candidate, who has shown skill, intelligence and leadership."

    Education Minister Sergio Bitar, of Bachelet's party, said he was proud because Bachelet is the first democratically-elected woman leader in Latin America.

    "Her election is a great victory for Chile's women because she will also be a great president," Bitar said.

    One dissenting voice was that of the hard-right Independent Democratic Union (UDI), who alleged that Pinera had lost because of the abuse of power by Lagos.

    "The misinformation campaign has been effective, and has damaged democracy," said the UDI senator Hernan Larrain.

    Bachelet, 54, is a pediatrician and public health expert who has also studied military science at Chile's National Academy of Strategy and Policy and the Inter-American Defense College in the United States.

    She was named minister of health in March 2000 and became minister of defense in January 2002, the first woman to hold the post in the history of Chile and Latin America.

    Her father, Alberto Bachelet, was a brigadier general, who died in prison in March 1974 as a victim of torture for opposing the regime of former military ruler Augusto Pinochet. Her mother is an archeologist. Enditem