Around a thousand Chileans vote this Sunday from Ecuador

This Sunday, Chile is holding one of the most important elections since the return to democracy (1990), amid a polarized climate that has left the two coalitions that have taken turns in power for 30 years with little chance.

In this context, Chilean immigrants also approach the polls in cities of various countries, including Quito and Guayaquil.

In the latter, the Chilean consul Manuel García-Rey, who has been in the city for almost three years, commented that the election day is the same as in his country, from 08:00 to 18:00, after which the count begins for send the results digitally, and a day later the physical votes as endorsement by diplomatic bag.

In Guayaquil, 500 people were authorized to vote at two tables, located in the Casa Grande University facilities, taking into account that this consulate covers Chileans – by birth or nationalization and who registered their change of electoral address – not only from Guayas , but also from Azuay, Loja and other southern provinces of Ecuador.

The other voting point is in Quito, at the UTE University, where the number of people authorized to vote was also around 500.

In previous elections, around 60% of the electoral roll voted, but this number was expected to increase in these presidential elections.

“The process has developed normally (…). 58 people voted in the primaries and today we expect 450 or so people to arrive, ”said Alfonso Mallegas, electoral representative of the candidacy of Gabriel Boric (left), the favorite in the polls.

Mallegas, who has lived in Ecuador for twelve years, pointed out that this election is played between a fairer and more equitable country and the right wing, which has shown that it has no governance. “Corruption is everywhere in the country,” he says, and that with a new constitution and a young president – Boric is 35 years old – with new ideas, he hopes that a new Chile will be created.

While from the other pole, the attorney for the candidate of José Antonio Kast (more conservative right), Sebastián Ortiz de Rosa, who has lived in Guayaquil for two years, thinks otherwise and believes that the future of Chile should have Kast, since the candidate Sebastián Sichel (center-right and another of the options) is the continuation of the current president Sebastián Piñera, whom he accuses of giving the country to socialism with a Constituent Convention and putting Chile in a situation that it did not experience a long time ago.

Meanwhile, Fernando Larios – residing in Guayaquil for fifteen years – qualifies this opinion and believes that any government that is not of the left will help, because he believes that the way of life of Chileans is at stake, “in its social and economic form, throughout”. “It is seen throughout the world that the left has been a disaster; Instead of favoring people, what it does is impoverish them ”, he pointed out.

“May the Constitution win and Chile have everything it deserves: health, education, freedom,” said Jazmín Yeber, who has been in the country for 25 years. She added that voting should be mandatory to elect the president.

In Chile, the first trend-setting results are expected to occur around 10:00 p.m., according to García-Rey. (I)