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Electoral elections in Chile: Kast and Boric will define everything in the second round
Chile opted for limits in the first round of the elections
The conservative José Antonio Kast and the leftist Gabriel Boric, will go to the second round for the presidency of Chile in a polarized country.
Kast, from the extreme right, while Boric, a radical leftist, obtained the most votes. With 99.98% of the polling stations scrutinized in the elections held this Sunday, they are the ones that will go by the country's administration on December 19.
José Antonio Kast, is a 55-year-old legal advisor, married and father of 9 children. He shows compassion for the true legislature of Augusto Pinochet and obtained 27.91% of the votes, compared to 25.82% for Boric, a 35-year-old former student leader trying to become the youngest president in Chilean history.
This result establishes the closest contrast of the last twenty years between the two majority parties in the first round.
While Boric and Kast are now separated by 2.09 percentage points, Ricardo Lagos in the 1999 elections obtained a difference of only 0.44% over Joaquín Lavín.
The liberal Franco Parisi, a candidate who did not go to Chile throughout the campaign, gave the surprise and was third with 12.80%. The votes of his allies could be key in the second round to influence voters towards Kast or Boric.
A historical fact of the political contest is that it will be the first time — since the restoration of democracy in 1990 — that the administration will not be chosen from the usual center-left and center-right wing.
Furthermore, since the re-implementation of the voting system in Chile, the president has always been the person who has obtained the highest number of votes in the first round. However, the fracture of the vote in this first round makes it difficult to predict the results in December.
The last day of elections was marked by long lines of citizens waiting for their opportunity amid the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Congratulations to José Antonio Kast and Gabriel Boric for having prevailed in the first round," said President Sebastián Piñera, who could not stand for reelection and will leave office in March 2022.
These presidential elections so marked by extremes come on a historic anniversary, two years after the social outbreak that prompted the appointment of a Constituent Convention, charged with drafting another Constitution.
On the day, the 155 parliamentarians from the Chamber of Deputies and 27 of whom will be 50 senators and local councilors were appointed. In this way, they shaped the political game for the next few years. While waiting for the results of the Constituent Assembly.
"Chile deserves harmony and opportunities"
"We have the vocation of the majority. Chile deserves harmony, opportunities and that is what we are going to give it," said the right-wing Kast in his celebratory speech, hugging the country's flag.
"We have an immense test: to summon more people, to each one of the people who could not decide in favor of us. We have to invite them, to come and work for order, harmony and the opportunity for progress," he added.
"We are the candidacy that will regain harmony, will go against lawbreakers and drug traffickers, we will end terrorism. There can be no other presidential option than ours," he added, focusing on the issue of security.
Kast linked Boric with the Communist Party, one of the progressive's allies.
"Boric and the Communist Party have to exonerate the criminals who steal. They meet with murderers. They need instability, close lines of trade, progress down the path of contempt", rebuking his opponent.
"We do not need the course that leads us to be Venezuela and Cuba," added Kast, linking Boric with the political schemes of those countries.
"System of opportunities and democracy against communism", he left as the motto of what the second round of December 19 needs to be.
"May hopes to win over fear"
Boric, for his part, did not name Kast, his opponent in what he defined as "a second round that will be memorable."
"We have been entrusted with the dispute for democracy, justice, inclusion, respect, for the dignity of all," said the congressman.
"Our campaign, for which we will be deployed throughout the country, is that hope wins over fear," Boric contrasted his speech with that of Kast.
"They declared war on us, we declared hope," said Boric, who proposes a "changeable and sensible" project.
For Boric, on December 19 two restrictive positions are chosen: "Either we promote a comprehensive, inclusive Chile, more concerned about its own, or we continue on the path of rejection, censorship and privileges for which Chile took to the streets on December 25. October 2019 and requested a Constituent cycle "that arose from the social outbreak two years ago.
The candidate pledged to protect the Constituent Convention, which has long been debating the new Magna Carta with an independent and radical left-wing majority.
What will the others do now?
Both Kast and Boric praised the citizens of different political ranks who were left out of the second round and that on December 19 they should elect either of them.
"I don't want the extreme left to win in Chile," said Sebastian Sichel, standard-bearer for the right-wing ruling party, who with 12.79% of the vote came fourth.
For her part, Yasna Provoste, who was fifth, showed interest in paying attention to Boric and his proposal for the second round, clarifying that, as head of the middle left, her will "can never be impartial", and confirmed that she would not allow advancing "the fascist proposal led by Kast."
