MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bachelet makes her sixth cabinet reshuffle confirming the ruling coalition keeps losing ground

Bachelet announced she had replaced her government spokesman Marcelo Diaz with her close adviser Paula Narvaez.

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet launched her sixth cabinet reshuffle in less than three years in a bid to strengthen her government ahead of a general election next year. The 65-year-old leader is one of the few figures to remain in power from a wave of leftist governments in South America over recent decades.

 Bachelet announced she had replaced her government spokesman Marcelo Diaz with her close adviser Paula Narvaez. She also replaced her sport and labor ministers.

“In this new stage, the government must ensure that the reforms we have made will progress and be consolidated,” she said in an address at the presidential palace, announcing the reshuffle.

The region is seen to be shifting to more conservative positions, with the decline of a wave of leftist-populist governments that dominated the continent over the past two decades.

Argentina's former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner left office in 2015 and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil was impeached this year. Populist Cristina Fernandez was replaced by conservative ex mayor of Buenos Aires city Mauricio Macri, and in Brazil vice president Michel Temer, a conservative constitutional professor moved into Rousseff's office.

Now Bachelet's government is wobbling too, a year ahead of its next presidential election. Her coalition suffered a beating in local elections last month to a strong conservative backlash.

The president has fought tough battles in parliament and has faced mass protests demanding education and pension reforms. She has also been embarrassed by a corruption scandal implicating her son.

Given the tough circumstances, Friday's reshuffle was less radical than widely expected. Bachelet's much-criticized parliamentary and interior ministers kept their posts.

Bachelet served as president from 2006 to 2010 and returned to office for a second term in 2014.