The participation of young people in these elections is one of the big questions and could tip the balance towards one or another presidential candidate.
Extremely high temperatures in most of Chile and long lines outside voting centers so far mark a historic election day in which Chileans will elect the next president and renew most of the Parliament after two years of social upheaval.
“It is the most important election since the return to democracy and I’m going to wait the hours it takes to vote. It is important to elect a president who will accompany the constitutional process, “Javier Vallejo, a worker from the world of cinema, who was lining up in the Providencia neighborhood of the capital, told Efe.
After him, the commercial engineer Michelle Heinz was also willing to wait to vote: “I hope the next government brings the greater stability possible, everything has been very chaotic and I hope that agreements can be reached“He added to Efe while protecting himself from the sun with an umbrella.
“The pandemic affected our jobs a lot and there is much to do. I hope that many people vote and that the country can overcome the crisis”, For his part, the pensioner Humberto Venegas recognized Efe from the coastal Viña del Mar.
The favorites on the presidential list
Son seven candidates who aspire to reach La Moneda (Presidential headquarters), although the polls agree that none will achieve 50% plus one of the votes this Sunday and that there will be a ballot on December 19.
The left-wing deputy Gabriel Boric (35 years old) and the far-right lawyer Jose Antonio Kast (55) are the ones with the best chance of going to the second round, according to the latest polls published 15 days before the closure.
The experts, however, warn that the stage is very open and that the Christian Democrat Yasna Provoste and the right-wing official Sebastián Sichel they could surprise.
“I have no memories, since the end of the dictatorship, of such intense elections and with the possibility of having really new faces in the Government“Marcelo Rivero, 49, told Efe in Viña del Mar.
For Magdalena Espejo, a university student also from the spa city, “the changes that have occurred in Chile in recent years have been driven by the voice and action of young people.”
A constant unknown, participation
Precisely, the participation of young people in these elections is one of the great unknowns and could tip the balance towards one or another candidate. The young people were the protagonists of the social outbreak, the most serious protests since the end of the military dictatorship, and they went out en masse to vote in October 2020 in the plebiscite in which it was decided to change the current Constitution.
Until the polls close at 18:00 local time It will not be known if the participation has exceeded the record reached in the constitutional plebiscite, when 50.9% of the voters came out to vote. Since voting ceased to be mandatory in 2012, Chile has experienced an endemic abstention.
“The reports we have are that there has been a good turnout so far”Admitted the official spokesman, Jaime Bellolio.
The candidates came to vote first thing in the morning and the majority will travel to Santiago to wait for the results in their respective headquarters.
The first authority to vote was the outgoing president, the conservative Sebastián Piñera, who will finish his second non-consecutive term in March 2022 and asked to celebrate the results “in a respectful and peaceful way.”
“I ask you once more let’s give an example to the world of how democracy works in Chile and to ourselves that we are capable of resolving our legitimate differences peacefully, “added the president. (I)
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