The
Socialist Party of Chile (, or PS) is a political party within the
center-left Nueva Mayoría. Its historic leader was the late
President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed in a coup d'état by General
Pinochet in 1973. Twenty-seven years later, the
President of Chile Ricardo Lagos Escobar represented the
Socialist Party in the
1999 presidential elections. He won 48.0% in the first round of voting and was elected with 51.3% in the second round. In the last
legislative elections on December 16, 2001, as part of the
Coalition of Parties for Democracy, the party won 10 out of 117 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies and 5 out of 38 elected seats in the
Senate. After the
2005 elections, the Party increased its seats to 15 and 8, respectively. In the
2009 elections, it retained 11 Congressional and 5 Senate seats. Socialist
Michelle Bachelet Jeria won the
2005 Presidential election. She was the first female president of
Chile until 2010, when
Sebastián Piñera became President.