Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast votes for the second round of the presidential election in Chile on December 19, 2021 (AFP / MAURO PIMENTEL)
Torn between fear and hope, Chilean voters began voting on Sunday to elect their president from among two unexpected candidates, with diametrically opposed social projects offering a second round unprecedented since the return of democracy in 1990.
As of 11:00 GMT, some 15 of the 19 million Chileans have been called to the polls. The name of who will succeed Sebastian Piñera, who voted as soon as the centers opened, should be known soon after they closed at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
Gabriel Boric, MP since 2014 who leads a left coalition with the Communist Party, presents himself as the candidate for change and the political heir of the 2019 movement for more social justice in the most unequal country of the OECD.
Aged 35, the minimum age to run, the former leader of a student movement in 2011 was not expected in the final sprint just a few months ago.
José Antonio Kast, leader of the far-right party that he himself created, won 7.93% of the vote in the 1st round in 2017 and today benefits from the rejection inspired by the conservative president Sebastian Piñera who ends in indifference his second term (2010-2014 then since 2018). The Chilean right, victim of “degagism” is therefore lined up in order of battle behind him.
Mr Kast won the first round on November 21 with 27.9% of the vote, ahead of his left-wing opponent (25.8%).
Gabriel Boric, leftist candidate for the presidential election, on December 16, 2021 during a meeting in Santiago de Chile (AFP / MARTIN BERNETTI)
The 55-year-old lawyer ‘s ultraliberal economic agenda proposes to further cut state spending and lower corporate taxes to create jobs.
Quite the opposite of Mr. Boric’s program, which intends to launch a major tax reform to involve the richest in the country – including the 1% holding 26.5% of the wealth, according to a UN agency – in his program redistributive of better access to health, education, and the creation of a new retirement system, now entirely private.
– “Discredit” –
Bio of far-right Chilean presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast (AFP /)
But in a country ruled by center-right and center-left since the end of the dictatorship 31 years ago, voters seem to be driven by rejection rather than membership.
Camila Chamblas, a 26-year-old teacher, wants at all costs to avoid a return to the atmosphere of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), of which José Antonio Kast claims (one of his brothers was minister under the regime military during which at least 3,200 political opponents were killed or disappeared).
“I was not yet born but I talked about it a lot with my parents who suffered a lot at the time. The things he (Kast) says are like a continuation of him (Pinochet),” he said. -she.
Bio of Chilean presidential candidate Gabriel Boric (AFP /)
Ricardo Sepulveda, a 75-year-old pensioner, will vote against “communism”. He says that under the socialist government (allied with the Communists) of Salvador Allende (1970-73), his income decreased and insecurity increased until the arrival of the military junta which “restored order”.
The presidential campaign was rough and “focused on discrediting the competitor,” said Marcelo Mella, an analyst at the University of Santiago.
During his last meeting Thursday, Mr. Kast, opposed to abortion, swore that “Chile is not, and never will be, a Marxist or Communist country”.
Mr. Boric, for his part, said his rival “will only bring instability, more hatred and violence”.
– “Nervous” –
The outcome of this undecided ballot will be dictated by the capture of votes from the center and the mobilization of abstainers from the 1st round (53%).
Javiera Munoz, 33, pregnant and unemployed, does not know whether she will “vote for the lesser evil” or “waste” her vote by voting blank or no. Javiera Otto, a 24-year-old employee, does not know who to vote for: she “likes neither”, has “no real hope” and feels guided by “fear”.
Outgoing Chilean President Sebastian Piera in Santiago, November 17, 2021 (AFP / MARTIN BERNETTI)
Carol Bravo, 34-year-old waitress, will vote for Gabriel Boric who “gives hope to finally complete all the changes that Chile has known, especially in the last two years” with the ongoing writing of a new Constitution for replace the one written under the Pinochet era.
She says she is “very nervous” while waiting for the result and will go “to the street” on Sunday evening if the extreme right wins.
According to Patricio Navia, a professor at New York University, “if Kast wins we are sure to see protests” but “if Boric wins there will probably be some turmoil in the stock market.” “Whether on the stock markets or in the streets, there will be a stir,” he warns.
bur-lab / blb