Chileans go to the most uncertain elections in three decades, marked by extreme positions

Chileans went to the polls on Sunday culminating in a two-year period in which the country experienced a social outbreak, began to draft a new Constitution and dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, shaping a panorama in which the most extreme proposals they are the ones that seem best positioned.

With the usual setbacks of the first hour, the tables were being installed although with little attendance of voters, while others evidenced the absence of the table members.

The polls for the presidential elections predict a clear victory in the first round of the most radical left embodied by Gabriel Boric and the extreme right led by José Antonio Kast -both with more than 20% of the preferences-, who would contest the ballot on Decembre 19th.

If the scenario is confirmed, the Chileans would issue a death letter -at least temporarily- to the two political parties that have governed their destinies since the return of democracy in 1990: the center-left legacy of the Concertación represented by Yasna Provoste and the current right-wing ruling party. flagged by Sebastián Sichel.

The vote counts abroad – with little weight on the national total – yielded a victory for Boric over the other candidates. Suffrage abroad usually favors more left-wing tendencies.

“The results we have obtained so far are very positive, but by the way, they must be taken with humility. I do not trust myself and call people to participate“Boric told CNN Chile channel during a tour of his native Punta Arenas, in the extreme south of the country.

Boric, a 35-year-old former student leader, is pointed out by many as the main candidate for La Moneda, by bringing together in Approve Dignity support ranging from the center-left to the Communist Party, to which a more transversal vote of rejection against Kast could be added if they end measured in the ballot.

The existence – according to polls – of 25% undecided means that analysts do not finish ruling out a possible comeback that will take Sichel or Provoste to the second round.

In New Zealand, second place was obtained by the virtual candidate Franco Parisi, a mediatic economist based in the United States who did not set foot in Chile during the entire process and who appears as third force in some polls.

Parliamentarians – the 155 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 27 of whom will be 50 senators – and regional councilors will also be chosen during the day, forming the political board for the next few years, pending the results of the work of the Constitutional Convention .

The polls close at 6:00 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) and the results begin to add up quickly in an automated system.

President Sebastián Piñera was one of the first to vote in a wealthy neighborhood in the east of the capital and called on citizens to vote and assured that the necessary health measures have been taken in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

“To those who are elected and have to take office on March 11, may they never forget that they have been elected to serve the people“Said the president after casting his vote.