Michelle Bachelet is considering a third presidential bid after withdrawing from the race for UN Secretary-General, according to La Tercera. The newspaper published an analysis column reconstructing events since the summer of 2025. No other outlet has confirmed that account.
According to the text, the sequence began during the presidential campaign. Polls put Evelyn Matthei first, followed at a distance by Bachelet, José Antonio Kast and Johannes Kaiser. Bachelet was not a candidate. However, she recalled that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had told her that a third candidacy was fun.
According to the column, that ambiguity paralyzed Democratic Socialism, the center-left bloc, and especially then-Minister Carolina Tohá.
By mid-2025, Bachelet had shifted her focus to the position of UN Secretary-General, which would probably be filled through an election in late 2026. Lula became her main backer in Latin America. Paula Narváez is described as her informal campaign manager.
La Tercera maintains that the campaign underestimated an obstacle. The United States, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto power, intends under Donald Trump to dismantle the agencies Bachelet would want to expand.
Kast won the election in late 2025 and, according to the newspaper, took more than three months to tell Bachelet he would not support her. The column attributes that decision to pressure from his voters and parties. Bachelet rejected the compensation offered by the new government.
The results were unfavorable. In the first straw poll, the Security Council's informal, secret vote, held in late July, she received six of fifteen votes and finished fourth. In August, she fell to two votes and seventh place. In the third poll, she received just one vote, and then announced her withdrawal.
The text adds that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took time to receive her and made clear that her country did not support her candidacy.
Days later, Bachelet signed a declaration with former President Gabriel Boric calling for Chile's withdrawal from the Shield of the Americas. The column describes it as an unusual intervention in the head of state's exclusive powers. Both also attended an event in La Pintana to show support for her after the setback.
The analysis argues that a third bid would not be against Boric. According to La Tercera, Bachelet would run only if he steps aside, to avoid dividing the left. The next presidential election is three years away.
The opposition's response has already begun. Former Government Spokesperson Francisco Vidal said he was surprised by Bachelet's openness to running again, but called for people not to launch candidacies prematurely.
