Chile will elect the next president if its ‘closest competition’ is over | Election Issues

Antofagasta, Chile The people of Chile have elected their next president this weekend – and in the north of the country it will be important, experts say, as two different people compete to win against interested and disenfranchised voters.

Sunday’s run-off election includes Jose Antonio Kast, a right-wing candidate, a candidate for Gabriel Boric, of a progressive democracy, and an elected president will take office on March 11 next year.

Kast, a 55-year-old lawyer and former Congressman, got a lot of votes in the first general election last month, but Boric, a 35-year-old student activist, has been leading the recent election.

The number of voters – especially the number of young voters who are coming – can determine the outcome of the election; Kast has the potential to have voters over the age of 50, while voters under the age of 30 prefer Boric.

“I think a lot of people understand the importance of this election,” said Daniela Campos Letelier, a member of the Red de Politologas, a group of women political analysts.

In their contest, both contested the by-elections in a bid to win the by-elections. But only one person had to shake his tower, said Campos Letelier.

“The origin of [Boric’s] The program remains the same, “he told Al Jazeera.[Kast] you need to move the compass needle even harder. “

Representing the Christian Social Front coalition, Kast supports law and order, government cuts, and tax cuts to boost income. She was brought back some of the less popular ones on her first platform, including the business venture of the Codelco state brass company and the removal of the Ministry of Women.

He has been striving to present himself as a liberal democrat, but still suffers from his anti-LGBTQ record, derogatory remarks about women and the newly elected MPs from the party he founded, with his respect for the dictatorial rule of 1973-1990 by Augusto Pinochet.

“Critical times are coming, and a government that gives stability is needed … a government that acts with prudence and authority,” Kast said Monday night in a final presidential debate.

Boric, a left-wing representative of the Apruebo Dignidad coalition, focused on social change, and promised to change the pension system, LGBTQ change and women’s rights, to address climate change, and to increase mining wages and corporate taxes. But he also straightened out his case beforehand to attract officials.

“Stability is achieved by social justice,” Boric said in his concluding message, calling on observers to vote for him in favor of “a radical change for the better in our justice and dignity.”

War of the north

Voting will be difficult. One-third of Chile’s more than 15 million registered voters did not vote in the last month. More than half did not vote at all, and more than 45 percent of the voters voted for one of the five outgoing candidates.

This culminated in Antofagasta, the most populous region in northern Chile, where it averaged 5 percent below the global average and Franco Parisi won nearly 34 percent. Kast and Boric ended up both embarrassed by the 21 percent support.

Parisi, an economist living in the United States, campaigned without a trace in Chile, where he faces charges of failing to provide child support. The Chilean electoral commission is now investigating the party for non-compliance with campaign funds.

“I voted for her,” Antofagasta resident Maria Morales said of Paris, but criticized foreign media reports that she was a “royal” candidate.

“It was a ‘penalty vote’ because all Chilean politics did nothing for us,” he told Al Jazeera in the city of Antofagasta, more than 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) north of Santiago, the capital.

Carlos Pizarro, a small business owner in Antofagasta, said he had supported Kast from day one, but also thought that the support of the Parish in the north was a sign of dissatisfaction. Antofagasta is the main mining region, which runs Chile’s economy, but people do not see this reflected in the local development.

“People are not happy with the ruling presidency in Santiago,” Pizarro told Al Jazeera at the end of a meeting of about 200 Kast people who came to visit the city earlier this month.

Pizarro favored the division of states but said Chile needed legislation and the Kast system promised. The demonstrations that shook the country in October 2019 and over the next few months it affected many small businesses, he said.

“There are a lot of challenges,” Pizarro said. “Once we make a plan, we can achieve more.”

‘Strong competition’

The Kast convention on December 5 was not a riot in Antofagasta.

As soon as Kast began speaking on stage, a small group of LGBTQ high school students and university students waved a protest flag at the back of the rally and used a megaphone to slash Kast on the far right.

Kast’s aides pushed back verbally and physically, and riotous Carabineros police stormed in to form a line between the two groups. The demonstration continued, with students expressing fears that Kast’s representation represented LGBTQ people, women, and human rights.

Kast opposes regular abortion and voted against LGBTQ rights while in Congress. “It directly affects us,” Izaac Jimenez, one of the student demonstrators, told Al Jazeera. “Very well it should be stopped.”

Assistant to President Jose Antonio Kast listens to him speak on December 5 in Antofagasta [Sandra Cuffe/Al Jazeera]

Jimenez and other protesters, members of the anti-capitalist student group, also oppose Boric, his party and its program. But he is inviting people to join him and vote for Boric in the campaign to defeat Kast and right.

A crowd of more than 1,000 Boric people gathered on Tuesday as they headed for Antofagasta at one of the last stops along the way. Among the many reasons he expressed in his remarks, Boric promised to fully support the agenda of the Constitutional Convention.

One of the most important things 2019 demonstrations against constitutional inequality in Chile was the legal replacement for the dictatorship of the country. Boric supported what he wanted, while Kast objected. There is currently a meeting of elected representatives writing new rules, and the next president will take the chair when he completes and is placed in a referendum.

“Let’s defend what we have created and choose an idea that protects the new law,” he said. Elisa Loncon, Indigenous Mapuche professor and president of the Constitutional Convention, said earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Boric and Kast have until Thursday night to win the majority of voters within two days of campaign security before Sunday’s election.

“I think participation will be great [than the first round]”” Campos Letelier said, adding that if the voter turnout was more than 50 percent, the rerun could be successful. “I think it will be a very close contest.”