Chile right-wing presidential hopeful rules himself out of race

Chile right-wing presidential hopeful rules himself out of race

SANTIAGO | Tue Jul 23, 2013 6:38pm BST

(Reuters) - Former Defence Minister Andres Allamand ruled out running in Chile's November presidential election on Tuesday, increasing the likelihood a fractured right wing will rally behind a conservative female economist to try to beat favoured ex-President Michelle Bachelet.

The moderate Allamand, who resigned as defence minister in November, had been seen as one of the right's best hopes to woo voters away from the popular centre-left Bachelet. His centre-right Renovacion National and the more conservation Union Democrata Independiente are joined in the Alianza coalition.

Having lost to the UDI's Pablo Longueira in a June primar, Allamand's star seemed to be rising again when Longueira unexpectedly dropped his bid last week due to ill health.

But on Tuesday Allamand definitively ruled himself out as a presidential candidate in 2013 and suggested that his move would increase the probability that his party would back Evelyn Matthei, an economist chosen as a candidate on Saturday by the UDI.

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