“The future of Chile needs us all on the side of the people,” says Gabriel Boric, in his first speech after the results of the presidential elections.

He acknowledged that the times that come “are not easy.”

The newly elected president of Chile, the leftist Gabriel Boric, said this Sunday before a crowd of supporters in downtown Santiago that the country is “facing a change in the historical cycle” and that his next government “cannot miss it.”

In his first public speech after defeating the far-right José Antonio Kast with 55.8% of the votes, the former student leader assured that his commitment “is to take care of democracy every day” and thanked the other six candidates who competed in the elections. .

“The future of Chile needs us all on the side of the people and I hope we have the maturity to have their ideas and proposals to start my government,” he said.

Boric reiterated, as he did when casting his vote in the morning and in his conversation with the outgoing president, Sebastián Piñera, that he will be “the president of all Chileans”, both of those who voted for his project and of those who they chose another alternative or they did not attend to vote.

He acknowledged that the times that come “are not easy” and that his Government must “face the social, economic and health consequences of the worst pandemic”, but that they will advance “with short but firm steps.”

He made a flag for “social cohesion” for a “true and sustainable development”, for “respect for human rights”, women, “dissidents and diversities”, a health “that does not discriminate between rich and poor”, “Decent pensions”, ease of access to housing and basic services and the strengthening of public education.

He also had words for drug trafficking and violence, which he wants to fight, and climate change, which he will also fight because “it is not an invention.”

“Of course, not everything can be done at the same time and we will have to prioritize to make progress that will allow us to improve”, aware that with a Congress in which neither the left nor the right have clear majorities, it will be necessary to advance based on of “comprehensive agreements”.

I assure you receive the mandate “with humility” and that your government project can be synthesized in “advancing responsibly in the changes that Chile has been demanding, without leaving anyone behind.”

“This means growing economically; convert what some understand as consumer goods into social rights, guarantee a calmer and safer life, deepen the freedoms of all, and especially of all: in our Government women will not back down in the rights and freedoms they have achieved in the long run of history ”, he expressed.

A 35-year-old MP and former student leader, Boric defines himself as an ecologist, feminist and regionalist and wants to expand the role of the state towards a welfare model similar to that of Europe.

He will be the most leftist president since the government of the overthrown Salvador Allende (1970-1973) and the first who is not part of the two great blocs that shared power since the return to democracy in 1990.

His victory tonight was celebrated by hundreds of thousands of people in downtown Santiago. (I)

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