Soledad Alvear

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Soledad Alvear

María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela (b. September 17, 1950), is a Chilean lawyer and Christian Democrat politician, who was a cabinet member of the Aylwin, Frei and Lagos administrations. Her surname was originally Alveal, however she changed it to Alvear at some point, before gaining fame as a politician. She is currently a senator and the president of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC).

Under President Patricio Aylwin, Alvear worked as Minister of Women's Affairs, a new Ministry created to deal with discrimination against women in Chilean society. Under the Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle administration she assumed as Justice Minister and helped in completely overhauling the Criminal Justice Code, which dated from Spanish Colonial times. With Ricardo Lagos she worked as campaign manager during the 2000 runoff election, and then under his government she worked as Foreign Minister, signing Free Trade Agreement with the United States, the European Community and South Korea.

On late 2004 Alvear won her party's nomination for the upcoming presidential election. To select the sole Concertación candidate, she was to face Michelle Bachelet —the Socialist Party nominee supported by the rest of the coalition— in an open primary election. However, low support in opinion polls and on her own party leadership led her to resign two months before the defining primary. Her decision to run for a seat in the Senate in the concurrent parliamentary election, proved successful, winning a seat for the PDC in the Santiago/East circumscription. On May 2006, she became the first woman elected president of the PDC, with nearly 70% of the votes.