The leftist Gabriel Boric and the far right José Antonio Kast are the candidates with the best chance of going to the ballot.
About 15 million registered voters are preparing to exercise their right to vote in the general elections to be held on Sunday, November 21, where the country’s president and vice president will be chosen for the period 2022-2026.
“Profound changes” and “more security” are part of the requests of the citizens of Chile, who this Sunday will go to the polls to elect the successor of the current president, the conservative Sebastián Piñera, in elections considered the most uncertain and crucial of The last decades.
With a high rate of undecided and little confidence in the polls, the two candidates most likely to go on the ballot are the leftist Gabriel Boric, a 35-year-old former student leader who wants to expand the role of the state towards a welfare model similar to that of of Europe; and José Antonio Kast, a far-rightist who seeks to reduce the role of the state and prohibit gay marriage and all forms of abortion.
They also have options to go to the second round on December 19 more moderate letters, such as the Christian Democrat Yasna Povoste and the ruling party Sebastián Sichel.
“I want my country to regain the peace that it existed two years ago. All countries need changes, but they must be done in a peaceful way, “said Mauricio Lagos, for whom the so-called social outbreak was” too violent. “
José Vargas, a worker at the capital airport, thinks similarly: “I am going to vote because I want a change, but for sure, I want to be able to go out to the streets in peace. The country is upside down, “he added to Efe before getting on a bus in the capital’s Ñuñoa neighborhood.
Another opinion has the paramedic assistant María Eugenia Martínez, who defends all the marches – including those that end with confrontations with the agents, looting and barricades – because this regime is too worn out and out of date, ”he told Efe.
“The street changed and now the political class must. We have to build a new Chile, ”a university student who asked to identify herself as Antonia added to Efe.
An open wound?
Once one of the most stable and economically prosperous countries in the region, at the end of 2019 Chile experienced the most serious wave of protests since the end of the military dictatorship (1973-1990), with thirty dead and thousands injured. and accusations to the security forces for alleged abuses, and since then he has tried to channel their path.
The wounds of the marches – massive and peaceful at the beginning, although with episodes of serious violence, and minority and violent until today – remain open, despite the fact that this popular clamor was channeled into a constituent process that will culminate with the vote of the new Magna Carta in 2022.
Boric is the candidate for La Moneda who most channels the changes demanded in the protests and Kast, for his part, the one who has capitalized on the rejection of violence, offering a strong hand against disorder.
“I don’t want Chile to become either Venezuela or Nicaragua,” cleaner Ana Palacios assured Efe, synthesizing a growing anti-communist sentiment that the far-right has installed in the debate, given that Boric’s candidacy has the support of the Communist Party .
“I am not going to vote because I do not like any of the candidates or the ideas that he exposes,” said Vicente Aforno, 18 years old.
The young man is part of half the electoral roll (15 million Chileans) who will abstain from voting on Sunday, when Parliament will also be renewed.
“Record of participation”
Since voting was no longer mandatory in 2012, only the 2020 plebiscite to change the Constitution has exceeded 50% of the turnout (50.9%), a mark that could be beaten in these elections, according to experts.
“It is important to assert our opinion and we must combat low participation. We need changes, ”university student Diego Arratia told Efe.
For Kenneth Bunker, director of the Tresquintos pollster, a greater influx to the polls could benefit Boric, because that means that young people who normally stay at home have been encouraged to participate and the leftist deputy is the favorite option in that age group .
But a massive participation, he stressed to Efe, could also boost Provoste and Sichel: “The vast majority of people in Chile consider themselves to be from the center, moderate, in favor of gradual changes.”
“In the last 30 years, we had 7 boring presidential elections, but Chile is no longer a predictable country and now we are mired in maximum uncertainty,” Raúl Elgueta, from the University of Santiago, concluded to Efe. (I)
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