Ver�nica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (IPA-esmi?t?el ?at?e?let; born September 29, 1951) is a moderate socialist (Socialist Party of Chile) politician who was President of Chile from 11 March 2006 to 11 March 2010?the first woman president in the countrys history. She won the 2006 presidential election (Chilean presidential election, 2005-2006) in a runoff, beating center-right US dollar billionaire businessman and former senator Sebasti�n Pi�era with 53.5% of the vote. She campaigned on a platform of continuing Chiles free-market policies, while increasing social benefits (social security) to help reduce the gap between rich and poor, one of the largest in the world (List of countries by income equality). She was inaugurated on March 11, 2006.

Bachelet, a pediatrician (pediatrics) and epidemiologist with studies in military strategy, served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under President Ricardo Lagos. She is a separated (legal separation) mother of three and describes herself as an agnostic (agnosticism). She speaks Spanish (Spanish language) (her native language), English (English language), German (German language), Portuguese (Portuguese language) and French (French language). In 2009 Forbes magazine ranked her as the 22nd in the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world (Forbes Magazines List of The Worlds 100 Most Powerful Women) (she was #25 in 2008, #27 in 2007, and #17 in 2006). In 2008, TIME (Time (magazine)) magazine ranked her 15 on its list of the worlds 100 most influential people.