President of PPD holds lengthy meeting with Bachelet at La Moneda

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SANTIAGO.- President Michelle Bachelet and the leader of the Party for Democracy (PPD), Pepe Auth, reportedly held a lengthy meeting together this morning.

Although he did not wish to reveal all of the details of the conversation, which lasted close to an hour and a half, Auth claimed that "it was simply a dialogue to exchange ideas about the current state of the nation".

According to Auth, two of the topics addressed were Transantiago and the October municipal elections, which have caused tensions to rise between the PPD and the Christian Democracy (DC) following claims that some members of Auth's party have supported candidates that are "disconnected" from the Concertación, referring to the candidates belonging to the party headed by Soledad Alvear.

The PPD leader stated that he and the President had analyzed "our perspectives and the decisions that we have made as the Concertación" in order to "resolve the problems that still exist in many municipalities between certain entities that have not come together to back a single Concertación candidate".

With regards to Transantiago, Auth assured that "all votes" belonging to the senators of his party will be in favor of the initiative to offer a permanent subsidy to the capital city's public transportation system, as well as public transport within the regions outside of Santiago.