Elections in Chile: candidates Kast and Boric move away from extremes in search of the center vote

The second part of the electoral race in Chile between the extreme right-wing José Antonio Kast and the left-wing Gabriel Boric passes in a dizzying way towards the political center in search of the moderate vote, from antagonistic and partly extreme initial positions.

The usual adjustment of the programs for the ballots in the Chilean elections is more notable in the present contest, since in the first round of November 21, the two options that added the most support represented positions that were listed on either side of the spectrum. politician.

The center-right and center-left alternatives were rejected by the voters, but their votes may now be the key that decides which candidate prevails in the second round next Sunday, from which the successor of the current Chilean president, the conservative Sebastián Piñera, will emerge.

An electoral race that Boric tightly leads according to most polls and with some polls even talking about a technical tie.

“As the candidates who won are practically at the poles and the other alternatives were more in the middle, it is logical to moderate the discourse. When you aspire to be the president of all, what you have to do is seek a statesman position“Said Cristóbal Bellolio, academic at the Adolfo Ibáñez University School of Government.

Kast’s restraint

Kast, a 55-year-old former deputy and lawyer who on several occasions defended the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), is fighting to remove the sanbenito of “far right”That the press puts to him.

In this second phase of the campaign, he qualified his speech in some aspects such as those related to women, whom he promised to establish as “your priority ”, and the environment, ensuring that it will “An epic battle against desertification and climate change”.

But he continues to present himself against abortion and equal marriage, and as a defender of security, of the control of illegal immigration and of the free market, although in the latter he also moderated his speech and affirmed that the “core” of your proposal is “Guarantee a dignified life that is based on people, not the economy”.

Boric’s restraint

Boric, a 35-year-old deputy and champion of a leftist formation that has the support of the Communist Party, called for the ballot for economists from the center-left and relaxed his ambitious tax collection goals of 8% of GDP in eight years, adding more gradualness.

He aspires to build a welfare model with solidarity pensions and a universal health system, but now he also offered a discourse closer to the people, giving more importance to issues such as security, drug trafficking or immigration.

His position on the project that seeks to pardon the people detained during the social protests of 2019 was also notable, saying that there will be no pardon for those who have committed crimes in the framework of those marches, which shook the country.

The risk of imposture

The Social Sciences academic from the University of Chile Octavio Avendaño told Efe that he sees in this moderation the risk that the new programs will be seen as “impostations of something that even these figures do not believe”.

Bellolio suspects that those who will tip the balance are those who in the first round voted for other options (46.28% of votes, in total), although Avendaño also adds the importance of pursuing the favor of 53% of the people who abstained from go to the polls on that occasion.

“In general, there is a segment of the electorate that participates in an election but will not necessarily participate in the next election, that is why it is very important that the candidacies turn to that 53% who did not attend, because that segment can arise from there of the electorate that will modify the result”, Expressed Avendaño.

The unknown Parisi

The first step of the two contenders was to seek the support of the traditional center-right and center-left alternatives that were left out of the ballot, which they achieved on behalf of their flag-bearers, and the second to look askance at the former candidate Franco Parisi, the piece of most desired cake.

This liberal economist with a populist discourse against traditional politics attracted the third majority in the first round, with 12.80% of the votes, despite having been outside of Chile for more than a year and campaigning only on social media.

Kast sought to reach out to these voters and went to the program that Parisi runs on YouTube; while Boric, although he recognized that electorally it would be “profitable“To participate in the same space, he declined the invitation, alluding to the alimony debts of the former candidate, which, he said,”you have to pay”.

“Numerically it is key, without a doubt”, Affirmed Bellolio, although the sense of the vote of his supporters is unknown.

It is a sector “jaded and disenchanted with politics“, So they could not go to the polls because their candidate is not on the ballot, the expert pointed out, but he is also a voter who has ties to both the right and the left.

Connect with the right because “it is a market animal” that “cares about his own upward mobility”, Explained Bellolio, but at the same time“he hates the elite and the powerful because they have never allowed him to enter that group and that level of resentment often connects with the discourses of the left”.