it was never a goal of hers, she eventually agreed as she felt she could not let her supporters down. On 1 October of that year, she stepped down from her government position to fully focus on her campaign and to support the CPD in the municipal elections held later that month. On January 28, 2005, she was officially named the Socialist Party's presidential candidate. An open primary was scheduled for July 2005 to determine the CPD's sole presidential candidate, but it was canceled after Bachelet's only rival, Christian Democrat Soledad Alvear, a cabinet member in the first three CPD administrations, withdrew early due to a lack of support within her own party and in opinion polls. In the December 2005 election, Bachelet ran against three candidates: Sebastián Piñera from the center-right (RN), Joaquín Lavín from the right-wing (UDI), and Tomás Hirsch from the left (JPM). As predicted by opinion polls, she didn't receive the absolute majority needed to win the election outright, obtaining 46% of the vote. On 15 January 2006, she went on to face Piñera in the runoff election and won the presidency with 53.5% of the vote, becoming Chile's first female president and the first woman in Latin America to reach the presidency through a direct election without being the wife of a previous head of state or political leader. On 30 January 2006, Bachelet was declared President-elect by the Elections Certification Court (Tricel) and announced her cabinet, which, for the first time, was composed of an equal number of men and women, as promised during her campaign. To reflect the balance of power within the Coalition, Bachelet named seven ministers from the Christian Democrat Party (PDC), five from the Party for Democracy (PPD), four from the Socialist Party (PS), one from the Social Democrat Radical Party (PRSD), and three without party affiliation. First presidency (2006–2010) First days Bachelet was sworn in as President of the Republic of Chile on 11 March 2006 in a ceremony held in a plenary session of the National Congress in Valparaíso attended by many foreign heads of states and delegates. Much of Bachelet's first three months as president were spent working on 36 measures she had promised during her campaign to implement during her first 100 days in office. They ranged from simple presidential decrees, such as providing free health care for older patients, to complex bills to reform the