SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A left-wing millennial who rose to prominence during anti-government protests was elected Chile’s next president on Sunday after a grueling campaign against free-market firebrands comparable to Donald Trump.
With nearly 99% of polling stations reporting, Gabriel Boric won 56% of the vote compared to 44% of his rival, lawmaker Jose Antonio Cast.
In a model of civility broken by the campaign’s polarizing rhetoric, Cast immediately recognized the defeat, tweeting a photo of himself on the phone with his opponent congratulating him on his “grand victory.” Meanwhile outgoing President Sebastian Pinera – a conservative billionaire – held a video conference with Boric to offer his government’s full support during the three-month transition.
“I’m going to be president of all Chile,” Boric said in a brief televised appearance with Pinera.
Boric’s victory is likely to be felt across Latin America, where ideological divisions are widening amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has reversed a decade of economic gains, exposed long-standing shortcomings in health care and exacerbated inequality. deepened.
At 35 years old, Boric will become Chile’s youngest modern president when he takes office in March and only the second millennial to lead in Latin America after El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.
He was among several activists elected to the Congress in 2014 following major protests for high-quality education. At the stump, he called for “burying” the neoliberal economic model abandoned by the 1973–1990 dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet and raising taxes on the “super rich” to expand social services, fight inequality, and promote protection of the environment. swore off.
Cast, who has a history of defending Chile’s previous military dictatorship, finished two points ahead of Boric in the first round of voting last month but failed to secure a majority. This set off a face-off against Borik.
Jose Antonio Cast of the Republican Party, talks after preliminary election results show him losing to Gabriel Boric of the “I Approve Dignity” coalition in the presidential election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, December 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Boric was able to reverse the gap by moving from his base in the capital, Santiago, to a larger margin than pre-election opinion polls had forecast, and was able to attract voters in rural areas who were not in favor of political extremes. For example, in the northern region of Antofagasta, where he finished third in the first round of voting, he defeated Kast by almost 20 points.
An additional 1.2 million Chileans voted on Sunday compared to the first round, increasing the turnout to 55%, the highest since voting became mandatory in 2012.
The 55-year-old, a devout Roman Catholic and father of nine, emerged from the far right after garnering less than 8% of the vote in 2017. An admirer of Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, he rose rapidly in this election. Conservatives are playing with divisive discourse emphasizing family values and playing on Chile’s fears that the increase in migration – from Haiti and Venezuela – is driving crime.
As a legislator she has a record of attacking Chile’s LGBTQ community and advocating for more restrictive abortion laws. He also accused outgoing President Sebastian Pinera, a fellow conservative, of betraying the economic legacy of the country’s former military leader, General Augusto Pinochet. Cast’s brother, Miguel, was one of Pinochet’s top advisors.
“I am very relieved,” said Monica Salinero, a teacher who attended the celebration of Boric’s victory in 2019 at the protest site in Santiago’s Plaza Italia.
In recent days, both the candidates have tried to move towards the centre.
“I’m not an extremist. … I don’t feel very well,” Cast declared in the final segment, even as he was stunned by the revelation that his German-born father was Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. was the card-carrying member.
Boric, backed by a coalition of left-wing parties that includes the Communist Party of Chile, brought more centrist advisers to his team and promised that any changes would be gradual and financially responsible.
Supporters of the “I Approve Dignity” coalition, Gabriel Boric, gather at his headquarters after voting closes and partial results are declared during the presidential election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, December 19, 2021. (AP Photo/ Luis Hidalgo)
“People on both sides are voting out of fear,” said Robert Funk, a political scientist at the University of Chile, ahead of the counting. “None of the parties are particularly enthusiastic with their candidate, but they are voting out of fear that, if the cast wins, there will be an authoritarian regression or because they fear that Boric is too young, inexperienced and communist. alliance with.”
A divided Congress is likely to placate Borik’s victory.
Furthermore, political rules may soon change as a newly elected convention is rewriting the country’s Pinochet-era constitution. The convention – the country’s most powerful elected body – could in principle call for new presidential elections when it ends its work next year and if the new charter is ratified in a referendum.