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- WORLD, Page 29World NotesCHILEDemocracy Back on Track
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- Chile's long democratic tradition was finally back on track
- last week after a 16-year hiatus. In the first presidential
- election since the bloody 1973 coup that ousted Marxist
- Salvador Allende Gossens and brought General Augusto Pinochet
- Ugarte to power, voters elected Patricio Aylwin, 71, a Christian
- Democrat. As soon as Aylwin's victory seemed assured, thousands
- of citizens poured into the streets in jubilant celebration.
- Said Aylwin: "Chile has again taken destiny into its own hands."
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- A former Senator who ran as head of a 17-party center-left
- coalition, Aylwin received 55.2% of the vote, easily defeating
- both a right-wing candidate backed by Pinochet and a populist
- businessman. Pinochet, whose attempt to retain power was
- rebuffed last year in a national plebiscite, is scheduled to
- step down March 11. But by staying on as Commander in Chief of
- the army for at least eight years, he will keep a hand on the
- reins.
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