From the first results on Sunday evening, hundreds and then tens of thousands of people began to converge on downtown Santiago, under the colors of Chilean flags, indigenous peoples or those of the LGBTQ + community. “The united people will never be defeated”, shouts the crowd while waiting for the future president, Gabriel Boric, the youngest in the history of Chile.
A little before 10 p.m., he appears on the crowded Alameda, the same avenue where, with other parliamentarians of his generation, he made himself known ten years ago, leading the demonstrations for the free admission of the education.
“Our generation has entered public life demanding that our rights be recognized as such and not be treated as consumer goods”, he recalls after greeting his supporters in the indigenous language of the Mapuche people, the main indigenous people of Chile (9.6% of the population). The 30-year-old lists his proposals for social reforms, concerning health, pensions, and education. These sectors were fully or partially privatized under the dictatorship of General Pinochet (1973-1990), which imposed neoliberal reforms in the country. “We do not want some people to continue to make our pensions a business”, assures the elected president, with reference to the private funded pension system. “We are going to defend a public, autonomous, non-profit system without private pension funds”, he concluded to the cheers of the crowd.
If the polls carried out in recent weeks mostly gave Gabriel Boric the winner of the election, the distance with his competitor seemed to be narrowing in recent days. The deputy of the Frente Amplio (“ample front”), allied to the Communist Party and supported by the traditional left, finally far outstripped the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast (44.1%), historical defender of the dictatorship and of the neoliberalism, ultra-conservative on social issues.
A success all the more frank as it is accompanied by a record turnout since the introduction of voluntary voting in 2009. Indeed, 55.6% of voters turned out, against 47% in the first round.
Predicted by José Antonio Kast on November 21, Gabriel Boric managed to mobilize around him between the two rounds thanks to an intense campaign on the ground. “He included in his team more moderate profiles, social democratic economists and the president of the order of physicians”, add to Release Claudio Fuentes, political science researcher at Diego-Portales University, Santiago. What to counter the speech of its competitor of the extreme right, which ensured that the future of Chile was played between “Freedom or communism” during this election.
“Gabriel Boric has apparently succeeded in mobilizing particularly young people, voters in large cities, and the middle to popular classes”, Claudio Fuentes analysis. The vote for women was probably significant, José Antonio Kast being openly hostile to the right to abortion (even in cases of rape), and proposed before the first round to abolish the Ministry of Women or to give social assistance to women married rather than single.
In downtown Santiago, Rosa Maria Ahumada, 65, came to celebrate the victory of her candidate. This mandate, “This is the opportunity to make the new Constitution a reality” whose drafting began in July, and of which Gabriel Boric is a fervent supporter. “And to change our country, because Chile is far too unequal”, she denounces.
In Chile 1% of the richest inhabitants receive almost 30% of the country’s income. This is one of the reasons that led to the uprising in October 2019 and then to the election of a Constituent Assembly this year. The new text is due to be submitted to a referendum next year and could replace the current constitution, inherited from the Pinochet era.
Despite his clear victory, Gabriel Boric, until now MP for Punta Arenas in Patagonia, will not have it easy. The Parliament elected last month is very fragmented. Neither the coalition going from the right to the extreme right nor the parties of the union of the left have a clear majority. The future president, who is due to take office on March 11, will therefore have to negotiate with the opposition to implement his flagship reforms. He may also be expected at the turn regarding security and immigration, the campaign themes that made José Antonio Kast successful in the first round.
On the economic level also the future Chilean head of state will have to convince. Growth promises to be weak next year, around 2.5% according to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund, and the state budget will be down 22.5% compared to 2021. Knowing that we are very expected on the subject, Boric also promised Sunday to stay “Fiscally responsible”.