MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Top Chilean party leader resigns after electoral debacle

Former Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear

The head of the main party in Chile's ruling centre-left coalition quit on Tuesday and has given up on competing in next year's presidential race, following a poor showing in Sunday's municipal elections.

Former Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear, head of the Christian Democrats, was one of the several presidential hopefuls from the weakened Concertacion coalition that has ruled Chile since Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship ended in 1990. "In politics, I have always put my country, the Concertacion and my party first," Radio Cooperativa quoted Alvear as saying. "And because I love my party so much and believe in its values and principles, I think I had to do this; there was no other way to achieve the unity necessary in the Christian Democrats." President Michelle Bachelet's Concertacion coalition has not yet chosen a candidate for the 2009 presidential race. Possible hopefuls include former presidents Ricardo Lagos and Eduardo Frei. Bachelet is not eligible to run for re-election. The coalition has been battered by protests and scandals in recent months, helping to boost conservative rivals ahead of what is seen as the toughest presidential race since the return to democracy two decades ago. The main opposition centre-right Alianza coalition won at the weekend more mayoral posts than the government in a result that has boosted Alianza's hopes of winning the presidency in 2009. Early polls tip a centre-right billionaire, Sebastian Piñera, to win the 2009 presidential vote. However analysts say the two coalitions dominating Chilean politics will both need to forge alliances with centrist independents and it will be a close race. The ruling coalition has been flirting with the Communist Party an established recognized force in Chilean politics, while the Alianza has been wooing conservative groups splintered from the Christian Democrats However former Chilean president Patricio Aylwin and a member of the Christian Democrats said that he "recognizes the noble attitude of Ms Alvear but this does not solve the problem". "For me it came as a great surprise. I believe the party's council must request her to withdraw her resignation or simply reject it", added Aylwin. Socialist party president Senator Camilo Escalona wished Ms Alvear the best "but I hope she has a perspective of her actions and that this will contribute to the Concertacion". The Socialist party is the junior partner of the coalition. Escalona underlined that "Concertacion is not the Concertacion without the Christian Democrats, so the problems of our ally, are also problems which affect all of us".