Leftist Boric leads presidential election in Chile after initial vote count

The leftist candidate Gabriel Boric led the presidential election in Chile on Sunday with the first polling stations scrutinized, according to figures released by the electoral authority an hour after the polling stations began to close.

With 13.19% of the polls scrutinized, Boric had 53.39% of the votes compared to 46.61% of the ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast.

Chileans went to voting centers throughout the country from the early hours of the morning to decide who will be the next president in a polarized election two years after a social outbreak that opened the door to the drafting of a new Constitution.

The ultra-conservative lawyer, outspoken defender of the former dictator Augusto Pinochet, and the deputy and former student leader of the left had won the most votes in the first round of November 21. They are the closest elections in three decades since the fall of the dictatorship in Chile.

From the first round, both candidates moderated their positions, tried to build bridges towards the center and winked at the thousands of voters who in the first instance voted for other candidates such as the moderate rightist Sebastián Sichel, the Christian Democrat Yasna Provoste or the liberal economist Franco Parisi. , among others.

“Tonight we are going to have a new president elected by all of you and I believe that whoever he is should never forget that he is going to be the president of all Chileans and not only of those who supported him,” said President Sebastián Piñera after voting. in a center of eastern Santiago.

“I want to wish the future president wisdom, prudence and success because he will need them,” he added.

Local polling stations began operating at 0800 local time (11 GMT) to receive some 15 million voters called to vote. As of 6:00 p.m. local time, they began to close.

Initial polls conducted after the first round gave Boric a comfortable lead, who regained the lead as the election approached after the gap closed in midweek.

Boric left early to meet local media from his native Punta Arenas, in the extreme south of the country.

“Go vote in peace, in tranquility and with great hope. May hope beat fear today, “he briefly told reporters.

On the eve, the liberal Franco Parisi – who surprised by coming third in the first round with more than 900,000 votes – gave his support to Kast after a consultation carried out among his supporters that gave 61.4% of the preferences to the right-wing candidate.

Kast cautioned that he expected a close vote and that the winner should be at least 50,000 votes apart to ensure the transparency of the process.

“It is an important day, today the citizens are going to speak more than the candidates,” said Kast after voting at a center on the outskirts of Santiago.

Experts have criticized that the two candidates were unrealistic in their initial programs, with proposals difficult to finalize. Boric called for an end to neoliberalism and increase tax collection; Kast, a staunch defender of the free market, proposed a strong reduction in the size of the State and reduce taxes.

But one of the issues that reassured the markets after the first round was the almost balanced division of Congress between the forces of the left and the right. This ensures that regardless of who wins, overly radical proposals cannot be pushed forward.