RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Santiago Stock Exchange opened Monday (22) with a strong increase of 9.25% following the election results of the first round of the presidential elections in Chile, in which the politically conservative but economically liberal José Antonio Kast won the first round of the presidential elections against the politically and economically far left candidate Gabriel Boric.
Ipsa, the main index of the Chilean stock market, which gathers the most traded shares, opened with an increase of 9.25%. The Chilean peso also opened with a strong rebound of 3.5%, to trade at 800 units to the dollar at the beginning of trading.
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“The main bullish factor for the peso-dollar parity today is the results of yesterday’s elections. Chile voted for the extremes in the first round of elections,” said Mercados G consulting firm in a note early Monday.
José Antonio Kast and Gabriel Boric, located at opposite ends of the political spectrum, will contest a second round election on December 19. The results have been a hard blow for the center forces. The Christian Democrat Yasna Provoste and the center-right Sebastián Sichel between them did not reach even 25% of the votes. Both candidates have already acknowledged their defeat.
With 88.52% of the tables counted, Kast obtained 28% (1,725,653 votes) and Boric, 25.5% (1,573,004 votes). A slight advantage that for the economic liberal candidate is undoubtedly a success considering the 7.93% (523,213 votes) he obtained in the 2017 presidential election. This emboldened him in the speech given to his adherents at around 10 PM, where he thanked God, promised greater security and to fight against “communism” and “terrorism”.
Boric, in turn, gave a speech on “hope”: “Today we have received a mandate and a tremendous responsibility. We have been entrusted to lead a dispute for democracy, inclusion, justice and respect for the dignity of all,” he said.
Kast affirmed that he will lead the country out of the crisis generated by the social outbreak and the pandemic. Kast also assures that he is the ideal person to “straighten” the course of Chile. In affirming this, he refers to his economic perspective in which he defends deregulation of markets and the privatization of companies. As a father of nine children, lawyer, and a practicing Catholic, Kast sees himself as an “outsider” in politics.
Now, as head of the Social Christian Front, Kast rejects being labeled as extreme right-wing and sees himself as “the candidate of common sense”. Many Chileans seem to see it the same way.
Kast has been repeatedly pushed into the dictatorship corner by his opponents for praising Augusto Pinochet’s economic legacy. He advocates lower taxes and policies that encourage free investment.
Kast has stated that he would downsize ministries, eliminate a large portion of government agencies and reduce government intervention, which he believes will help lower taxes.
He is a “guarantor of liberal freedom”. One in which “property and equality before the law and the free market are guaranteed” and which “encourages free investment”.