Chile Senate gives President $2 to fund transit

Now I have heard of trying to undercut somebody's authority by force but this is ridicilious!




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Chile Senate gives President $2 to fund transit

Chile's Senate gave President Michelle Bachelet just $US2 to fix a new transit system in the capital that works so poorly it set off large public protests earlier this year and cut deeply into her approval ratings.
Bachelet asked Congress for $US92 million to prop up the system, and the $2 response was supported by a few key votes from her centre-left coalition, revealing deep schisms in her 20-month-old government.
"I think this has hit bottom. The political system is not working, the coalition is not working," said Marta Lagos, director of the Chilean branch of MORI polling firm.
The same centre-left coalition has run Chile for 17 years, since the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.
The failed Transantiago system – which established new routes for buses – was developed before Bachelet was elected. But she has taken the blame for the congestion and commuting delays it caused.
Bachelet, a socialist who became Chile's first woman president in March 2006, called the vote "regrettable." She has seen her popularity ratings fall to 39 per cent this year, also damaged by violent protests by subcontracted workers at state-owned miner Codelco in July.

Source & Contd: Stuff.co.nz