The 54-year-old candidate, from the People’s Party (PDG), lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
Franco Parisi, a candidate for the presidency of Chile, lives in the United States and did not campaign in person in his country or participate in debates with his rivals.
However, the engineer was third in the first round of the elections this Sunday, with almost the 12.8% of the votes, after a campaign that was characterized by the uncertainty of the voters and the volatility of their preferences.
With this result, Parisi relegated to fourth place the ruling party and former minister Sebastián Sichel (12.79%), of the center-right, and to the fifth place the center-left Yasna Provoste (11.61%), both representatives of the groups that alternated the power in Chile for the last 16 years.
Its success was based on a strong digital campaign with content on social networks and a critical discourse with the political class traditional.
The relative success of Parisi in the race makes him a key element in defining the second presidential round, in which they will face José Antonio Kast, who obtained 27.91%, and Gabriel Boric, who collected 25.83%.
But who is this candidate who was an unprecedented surprise in Chile and why did he not go to the country during the campaign?
Who is it
The 54-year-old candidate, from the People’s Party (PDG), lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
He is a commercial engineer with a degree from the Universidad Chile and a doctorate in finance from the University of Georgia (USA).
Before moving to the US, he was Vice Dean of the Faculty of Business from the University of Chile and professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the Andrés Bello University.
In 2011 he hosted with his brother, Antonino, the television program “Los Parisi: el poder de los gente”.
The platform allowed him to become known and in 2013 he ran for the presidency for the first time of his country, but he was fourth in the process, with 10% of the votes.
It is currently unclear exactly what Parisi is working on.
It was University of Alabama professor, USA, until 2016, but in an interview with Diario Financiero in September he ruled out that he would continue working in that center.
“I did not say that I work as a professor at a university, but that I do teaching activities. I prefer not to give names of establishments, I do not want those places to be harassed, ‘”he told that outlet.
His career has not been without scandals.
In 2016, the KCBD channel, a local NBC station in Texas, published an investigation in which a student at Texas Tech University, where Parisi had been a visiting professor, accused him of sexual harassment.
“That came to nothing, it was a claim that there was and it came to nothing. If it had been something serious or relevant, that would have happened to justice “, said Parisi about the case in an interview with the program” Mucho gusto “, broadcast on the Mega channel, last September.
In September, Channel 13 of Chile revealed that Parisi owes some US $ 249,000 in alimony, for which a Santiago family court issued an “arraigo order” against the candidate, which would prevent him from leaving the country if he returns.
Parisi has not been to Chile since 2020, but denies that that is the motive.
In a statement, he said: “I have not been notified of any resolution legally and less do I owe the unreal and exorbitant sum that is presented to me to collect.”
“(…) I will exhaust, through my lawyers, all the actions and steps aimed at defending my rights that have been violated (…). My children have never lacked anything, and they will never lack, “he added.
A virtual campaign
Despite the fact that he has not set foot in Chile for more than a year, Parisi managed to beat the forecasts and surpassed the candidates of the two great traditional coalitions.
Campaigned through Youtube y Facebook, where he made transmissions in which he appeared with a wallpaper of the Palacio de La Moneda, and he did not participate in the great television debates.
Every Tuesday he broadcast the program “Bad Boys: those who bother the elite” on the internet, along with three of his collaborators. He also broadcast the program “La Gira del Candidato”, along with candidates for parliamentarians and regional councilors of his party.
During the campaign, Parisi offered to go to Chile on some occasions, but did not comply.
“I would love to be touring Chile, hugging people, but Piñera does not support me: I have to work. So my question is when do I take my vacation? Now or close to the choice?
“The decision is obvious and clear, because look, taking a trip now means that I have to travel one or two days, seven days of quarantine, plus two days back, that is, I am 10 days away. Ten days that I rest from the holidays, ”said Parisi in a Facebook live to explain his absence in the presidential debate that took place on September 22.
Then, in October, he said that “he was in the process of validating the vaccines and that was the main reason why his arrival was being delayed,” according to the newspaper La Tercera.
At the beginning of November he said that he had given positive for covid-19.
A day before the election, he said: “There is planning to go to Chile, but I cannot say when,” says La Tercera.
His speech
For experts, Parisi represents an aspect of populism, appealing to the anti-party, anti-establishment vote.
“It is a very authoritarian vote, it does not have a program, it is not even in the country but it manages to collect that vote from people who believe that politics is corrupt, that the State does not guarantee rights, but personal merit,” he tells BBC Mundo the political scientist Pamela Figueroa.
In that sense, says the expert, Parisi is very similar to the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast. “The speech is very similar. He appeals to individualism since everyone depends on himself, and Kast appeals to a more conservative populism ”.
“He is a candidate who knew how to position himself very well in a populist, anti-political discourse and aimed at those who reject the center-left and right-wing parties in the same way ”, adds the political scientist Javier Sajuria.
For Julieta Suárez-Cao, from the Catholic University, “Parisi has managed to capitalize on the punishment vote,” he told Efe news agency.
During his campaign, the candidate offered reforms to the Judicial Power in Chile, lower some taxes, promote measures to protect the environment (such as the use of solar panels and electric cars), reinforce the country’s borders and deport those who commit crimes.
Key voters
Parisi’s success was notable in the North of the country, a traditional bastion of the center-left, where the migration crisis has been a central issue, and where his speech has been well received.
“There were already signs of this turn in 2013. They are mining areas, where the State is non-existent and there is a floating population of high resources, due to mining salaries, but manual jobs. Individual effort prevails over state support, and that discourse works well with Parisi ”, explains Sajuria.
Now, his voters will be decisive in the ballot.
“Those voters they would probably support Kast more than Boric”. And it is although Kast is located more to the right and defends more conservative social postulates, between both candidates there are pararelisms in terms of economic ideas.
However, the candidate still He has not said who he is going to support. It is possible that you define your supports for the second round through a digital consultation. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
