He is the face and the symbol of political renewal in Chile. The left-wing candidate, Gabriel Boric, won the second round of the presidential election on Sunday, December 19, ahead of his far-right opponent, José Antonio Kast.
Mr. Boric collects 55.87% of the vote, against 44.13% for his competitor, according to the almost final official results. Turnout exceeds 55%, a peak since voting is no longer compulsory in 2012. The left coalition, of which the Communist Party is a member, is a triumph in this unprecedented duel since the return to power. democracy in 1990 between two candidates with diametrically opposed social projects.
“There will be more social rights but we will do so while remaining fiscally responsible”, said the 35-year-old president-elect, in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of people who came to listen to him after his big victory.
Outgoing President Sebastian Piñera, who had to face a major social movement at the end of 2019, congratulated in a video discussion the new elected head of state who will take office in his place on March 11.
“History has taught us that when we divide into fratricidal wars, things always end badly. All of Chile hopes (…) that there will be a very good government for Chile and the Chileans ”, said Mr. Piñera.
Scenes of joy in the streets of the country
Before him, José Antonio Kast had admitted defeat. “I just spoke to @gabrielboric and congratulated him on his great triumph. He is today the elected president of Chile and deserves our respect and our constructive collaboration. Chile always comes first ”, he wrote on his Twitter account. Mr. Kast, candidate of “Order, justice and security”, came first in 1er turn (27.9% against 25.8%) by seducing the upscale neighborhoods of Santiago and the working classes outside the capital.
This admirer of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, supported by the whole of the Chilean right, had announced that in the event of defeat, he could not recognize the result of the election if the gap between the two candidates was less to 50,000 votes. In the end, a million votes separate the two contenders (4.6 against 3.6).
The streets of Santiago, as in many towns in Chile, exploded with joy at the news of Gabriel Boric’s victory. The party could extend all night long as the return of a certain form of “Pinochetism” was feared among the population.
“It’s a struggle that has lasted for many years, from our parents and grandparents, and we continue to fight against everything Kast means in Chile”, said Daniela, a 27-year-old waitress celebrating Mr. Boric’s victory in the streets of Santiago. “It is we, the young people, who have to get things done. I have faith in him, I believe in what he says “.
“I cry with joy. We beat fascism, it was like a birth. I’m going to come home, I’m going to hug my children and have a beer ”, launched Jennie Enriquez, 45, a pharmacy employee.
“I want you and the people to know that I will do my best to meet this formidable challenge and that our country is at its best when we are united”, said Mr. Boric, assuring that he wanted to be “The president of all Chileans”.
Welfare State Project
Gabriel Boric wins with his welfare state project, a major change in the country considered the laboratory of liberalism in Latin America, rallying around him the middle to upper middle class, mainly in Santiago.
This deputy, elected since 2014, presents himself as the political heir of the 2019 movement for more social justice in the most unequal country of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Aged 35, the minimum age to run, the former leader of a student movement in 2011 was not expected in the final sprint just a few months ago.
“It is possible to make Chile more human, more dignified, more egalitarian”, he said after voting in his hometown of Punta Arenas, in the far south, on the Strait of Magellan.
In a country ruled by the center right and the center left since the end of the dictatorship 31 years ago, Gabriel Boric intends to promote a major tax reform to involve the richest in his program of better access to health, to the education and the creation of a new pension system, now entirely private.
From Cuba to Argentina, via Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Peru, leftist governments in Latin America have expressed their satisfaction at Mr. Boric’s victory. Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party, left), whom the polls show as the winner of the presidential election in 2022 in a possible duel with far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, said himself “Happy with a new victory of a democratic and progressive candidate in our Latin America, for the construction of a better future for all”. Mr. Boric’s victory was also hailed by right-wing and center-right presidents in the region, such as Colombian Ivan Duque, Ecuadorian Guillermo Lasso and Uruguayan Luis Lacalle Pou.
The leader of rebellious France (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, hailed, Sunday evening on Twitter, of a “Long live Boric, new president of Chile” the victory of the candidate of the Chilean left.
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