Chilean presidential election: Runoff between the two extremists Kast and Boric

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chile will define its future president in a second round between the candidates of the extremes, the far-right José Antonio Kast and the far- left Gabriel Boric, who were the two most voted in the first round elections held this Sunday (21)  in the country.

The runoff election which will define Sebastián Piñera’s successor, will be held on Sunday, December 19.

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With results from 92.75 percent of the polling stations counted, Kast, of the right-wing Social Christian Front, obtained 28.01 percent of the votes, followed by the young leftist Gabriel Boric, with 25.64 percent.

In third place was the candidate of the People’s Party, Franco Parisi, with 12.95 percent of the vote, which makes him the surprise of the elections, since the candidate, who campaigned entirely from the United States, represents an anti-establishment vote.

Further behind was the Government candidate, Sebastián Sichel, with 12.64 percent, followed by Yasna Povoste, of the Christian Democracy-New Social Pact, and the head of the Constituent Assembly drafting a new Chilean Constitution, with 11.71 percent of the votes.

Perhaps the most significant fact of this election is that, after 30 years, neither of the two coalitions that have governed Chile since it returned to democracy after the Pinochet dictatorship was able to make it to the second round.

The runoff is expected to be a very polarized contest, in which Kast starts with a slight advantage but with an uncertain end. One of the key factors will be the level of electoral participation on December 19.

Boric, 35, the minimum age to run for the Chilean presidency and the youngest presidential candidate in the country’s history, called for “hope to win out over fear” as he voted in his hometown of Punta Arenas, in the far south of the country.

“It is about hope winning over fear, that we are capable of building a Chile that is fair, that is dignified, that has decent pensions for the elderly, that has a health system that does not discriminate,” he added.

Kast, for his part, voted in the town of Paine, 50 kilometers from Santiago.

“The main thing is that many people turn out to vote and pronounce themselves freely. Today we must keep our opinions to ourselves because what we say will not change the result; people already know what they are going to vote for”, he declared to journalists.

Earlier, at the end of a challenging term with two years of fierce social protests, the conservative Piñera became the first public figure to vote in a school in Las Condes, an affluent neighborhood of Santiago.

“All opinions matter. Come and vote; we are capable of resolving our differences peacefully; let’s vote,” he asked in front of the cameras.

Boric, a 35-year-old congressman and former student leader from the southern region of Magallanes, once again positioned himself within the opposition and at the national level as the main reference after winning his party’s primary in July.

For his part, Kast is a 55-year-old lawyer who supports the policies of the conservative Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

The elections crown a process of virtual re-foundation of Chile after historic protests in 2018 against social inequality and the political system that resulted in creating a Constitutional Convention in charge of drafting a new Magna Carta.

In total, voters had 10 hours to attend the 2,810 polling stations, for a total of 46,639 tables, which were guarded by more than 22,000 carabineros and Armed Forces personnel.

Almost 15 million people were on the electoral roll, while 71,018 were eligible to vote abroad.

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