Former President Michelle Bachelet did not rule out running a third time for La Moneda, Chile's presidential palace, in the 2030 elections. "I think so", she replied in an interview with TVU, the television channel of the Universidad de Concepción, when asked whether she would be available.
According to Publimetro, the former president immediately qualified her answer. "I don't know what will happen between now and four years from now", she said, leaving any decision subject to the political landscape that exists later on.
According to La Tercera, the question was direct: "President, is there no third without a second?" Bachelet governed Chile from 2006 to 2010, and again from 2014 to 2018. A third candidacy would put her in an unusual position in the country's recent political history.
The statement marks a shift from her earlier stance. In March 2025, Bachelet announced that she would not run for the presidency. At the time, she argued that "good politics demands renewal" and that others should take on the challenge.
She had already faced the same question in 2024. On that occasion, however, she did not rule it out entirely. She defended the need for "new faces" in democracy and said there was still "a long way to go".
Her remarks come just a few weeks after she withdrew her candidacy for Secretary-General of the United Nations. According to Publimetro, she made that decision after assessing the results of the informal straw polls in the organization's Security Council.
Since then, Bachelet has signaled that she will remain active in public debate. At a tribute last week in La Pintana, a comuna (municipality) of Santiago, she was explicit: "To those who thought I was going to go home after this, I have bad news for you. That is not going to happen".
The sources have so far not reported reactions from parties or other political leaders. Nor is there any formal decision. The next presidential election is set for 2030, four years from now, and Bachelet has left open a question that seemed closed.
