Chile’s presidential favorites tied with campaign paused by COVID-19

The two favorite candidates for the presidential elections in Chile on November 21, the leftist Gabriel Boric and the rightist José Antonio Kast, tie in a new poll as the campaign comes to a halt due to a COVID-19 contagion and goes digital .

Survey Criteria published this Thursday shows a technical tie between Boric (25%) and closet (25%) regarding the belief of the public about who will be the next president of the southern country, who will replace the strongly criticized Sebastián Piñera.

The only difference between the two candidates is in the intention to vote, where Boric (24%) this week snatched the favoritism they held closet (23%) the previous one, although the differences are practically nil, as in the Data Influye poll published last Wednesday, with the leftist first in voting intention (32%) and the ultra-conservative just behind (27%).

Boric, 35-year-old deputy and candidate of the conglomerate Approve Dignity – made up of the Broad Front and the Communist Party – confirmed the day before his contagion of coronavirus, for which all the presidential candidates went to quarantine for being considered close contacts since they shared physically and Without masks last Monday a space for debate at the University of Chile and on Tuesday in a forum of small and medium-sized companies.

So much closet, a 55-year-old lawyer who has demonstrated in favor of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) and is a supporter of the policies of the ultra-nationalist Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, such as the Christian-Democratic senator Yasna Provoste (9%) and the Liberal and pro-government but independent Sebastián Síchel (8%) suspended their events and trips and will have to follow the electoral campaign from their homes and digitally.

Also Marco Enríquez-Ominami (6%) and the ultra-left Eduardo Artés (2%). Not so the candidate Franco Parisi (8%), candidate of the Party for the People, despite being in the United States, only campaigning through the internet and not having returned to Chile yet.

This Thursday, the candidates participated during their quarantine in a new debate, in digital format, in a forum on governance and city development.

The elections have the first round on November 21 and in case of a second round it will be voted on December 19. The elections summon 15 million Chileans. The Congress and the 16 regional councils will also be renewed.