Gabriel Boric wins Chilean presidential election | Election Issues

Gabriel Boric, the left-wing lawmaker who was identified in the anti-government protests, has been elected Chile’s next president.

With about 99 percent of the polling stations declared, Boric won 56 percent of the vote, compared to 44 percent of his next rival, Jose Antonio Kast.

For example of a character that was contrasted with the campaign’s encouraging words, Kast immediately realized the defeat, sending his photo on the phone and his enemy thanking him for his “victory”. Meanwhile outgoing President Sebastian Pinera – a billionaire investor – held a video conference with Boric to support his government in the three-month transition.

“I will be the President of all the people of Chile,” Boric said in a video presentation with Pinera.

Boric success should be felt throughout Latin America, where the divisions of opinion are increasingly among the coronavirus, which has returned economic benefits for a decade, exposing weaknesses that have long been known and magnifying inequality.

At age 35, Boric will become Chile’s youngest president when he takes office in March.

He was one of the freedom fighters elected to the Congress in Chile in 2014 after leading a series of higher education demonstrations. In the course of the campaign, he vowed to “bury” the economic path left by General Augusto Pinochet of 1973-1990 and raise taxes for the “super rich” to increase development activities, fight inequality and promote environmental protection.

Kast, who has a long history of defending Chile’s former dictatorship, finished ahead of Boric by two points in the first round of voting last month but failed to garner a majority of votes. This led to a rivalry against Boric.

Boric was able to change the contrast by a much larger margin than he had predicted in the election by expanding beyond his headquarters in Santiago, and attracting non-political rural voters. For example, north of Antofagasta, where he completed the third round of voting, he defeated Kast by almost 20 points.

An additional 1.2 million Chileans cast their ballots on Sunday compared to the first round, which rose to nearly 56 percent, the highest since the abolition of voting in 2012.

“It is impossible not to be overwhelmed by the amount of history, Kast’s willingness to accept and thank his enemy even before the final results, as well as the generous words of President Pinera,” said Cynthia Arnson, head of Latin America program. Wilson Center in Washington. “Chilean democracy has won today, of course.”

Kast, 55, a devout Roman Catholic and father of nine, came out on the right after winning 8 percent of the vote in 2017. Time is a divisive issue emphasizing family culture and playing on Chilean fears that population growth migrants – from Haiti and Venezuela – run crime.

As a lawmaker he has a reputation for attacking the LGBTQ community in Chile and promoting anti-abortion laws. He also accused outgoing President Sebastian Pinera, a lawmaker, of giving away the financial legacy of General Augusto Pinochet, the country’s former warlord. Kast’s brother, Miguel, was one of Pinochet’s top mentors.

“I’m very relieved,” said Monica Salinero, a teacher who participated in the Boric victory celebration at Plaza Italia in Santiago, the exhibition space in 2019.

In recent days, both have tried to turn in the middle.

“I do not overreact. .

Boric, aided by the coalition of the remaining parties comprising the Chile Communist Party, brought in a number of advisers to his party and promised that any changes could be made gradually and economically.

“On both sides, people are voting out of fear,” Robert Funk, a political scientist at the University of Chile, said before counting the votes. “There is no side that is more interested in the person who wants to compete but who is voting out of fear that, if Kast wins, there will be an oppressive regime or out of fear that Boric is too young, ignorant and allied with communism.”

Boric success should be reduced by a split conference.

In addition, political laws could change soon as the newly elected assembly re-drafted the Pinochet regime. The conference – the country’s most powerful electoral body – could call for new presidential elections when it completes its term next year and if the new constitution is approved at the meetings.