Gabriel Boric is the new president of Chile. The 35-year-old Social Democrat defeated his rival José Antonio Kast, the ultra-right candidate who had obtained the majority in the first round, becoming the youngest president that the country has ever had, but also the most voted, as his success came in the context of the most attended elections ever, during which the turnout exceeded 56%, with over eight million voters.
In the ballot held on Sunday 19 December, to which the two political forces that have governed Chile for the last 30 years had no access, the leader of the left-wing coalition Pacto Apruebo Dignidad obtained 55,8% of the votes, against 44,2% of Kast. In the first round of November 21, the number one of the Partido Republicano de Chile, a supporter of Pinochet, had reached 27,9 percent of the votes, promising to restore order in the South American country. Boric instead stopped at 25,8%.
According to analysts, Boric's victory was possible thanks to the high (for the country) voter turnout, with citizens who were prompted to vote by the change project proposed by the young leader of the coalition Apruebo Dignidad, who promised to strengthen the role of the state to guarantee fundamental rights, education and health first of all, and to fight against strong existing discrimination in Chile. Boric will officially become president in March of the 2022, after turning 36 years old.
The communist mayor of the district of Recoleta in Santiago de Chile, and Boric's rival in the primaries won by the latter, declared that with "this victory we consider closed the chapter of the dictatorshipby Augusto Pinochet.
Speaking on the phone with the outgoing president of Chile, Sebastian Piñera, Boric said he will be "the president of all Chileans", while on Twitter he wrote: "Hope has won over fear".
In his "victory speech”, the new president admitted that “the times to come will not be easy: we will have to face the social, economic and health consequences of the pandemic, we will move forward with short but decisive steps”, but he also assured that he will lead “an open government, because a government does not advance alone. With us, people enter La Moneda”. The speech ended with a quote from Salvador Allende who on the night of September 4, 1970, had affirmed: "Go back home with the healthy joy of the clear victory obtained".
