SANTIAGO, Chile — Gabriel Boric, a tattooed 35-year-old former student leader from the far south of Patagonia, has secured a crushing victory to become Chile’s president-elect.
Boric narrowly lost the first round of the vote in November to far-right populist José Antonio Kast but managed to reverse his opponent’s advantage to take 56 percent of the vote in the runoff, compared with Kast’s 44 percent.
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“Thank you to all of the peoples that live in this place we call Chile,” Boric said on a giant stage erected in the center of the capital, Santiago, to rapturous applause.
“The future of Chile needs [all of the candidates] on the people’s side,” he said, thanking each presidential hopeful in turn, including Kast.
On Dec. 19, leftist congressman Boric won the presidential election at age 35, becoming the country's youngest leader. (Reuters)
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Kast called Boric on Sunday to concede defeat and congratulate him on his win. He also met with the president-elect Sunday evening at a hotel in Santiago.
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Boric will be the country’s youngest president when he takes office March 11, and his victory marks a profound generational shift in Chile.
Kast, a father of nine whose staunch Catholic faith informs his ultraconservative social values, was backed by the old guard of right-wing politicians.
Boric rose to prominence from among a generation of powerful student leaders who led protests for free high-quality education in 2011. After two terms in Congress, he put himself forward for the presidency, with many of his fellow students joining his team.
“We are very happy because the hope of our country has triumphed,” said Izkia Siches, the head of Chile’s medical union, who joined Boric’s team as campaign leader after his first-round defeat. “Ours will be a government of unity and construction.”
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Giorgio Jackson, another in Boric’s student cohort to join his campaign team, said that when outgoing President Sebastián Pi？era called the president-elect to congratulate him, Boric promised to unite Chileans after two turbulent years marked by protests and the coronavirus pandemic.
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Boric’s ambitious agenda focusing on social justice, addressing age-old inequalities and implementing a welfare state resonated in particular with young people.
After defeating his Communist Party rival in the primary in July, he announced his intention to bury the neoliberal socioeconomic legacy left by Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s repressive dictatorship that lasted from 1973 to 1990.
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In the background, a mostly left-wing assembly is rewriting Chile’s dictatorship-era constitution following mass anti-inequality protests that have rocked the country since October 2019.
Earlier in the day, 28-year-old Julio Olivares cast his vote in favor of Boric, desperate to rid Chile of the same political forces that had ruled the country for decades.
“For the future I imagine for Chile, Boric offers a far better program than Kast,” he said after casting his ballot. “If we are going to close the gap on this country’s inequalities, we need a progressive president.”
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But Chile remains relatively divided, and Boric will need to heal the wounds of a bitter campaign.
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At a polling station in central Santiago, 20-year-old Tamara O’Ryan voted for the first time in a presidential election.
“The future of the country scares me,” she said. “I’m voting for José Antonio Kast because he offers a real plan for Chile, not just empty promises.”
Kast spoke largely of crime, public disorder, drug trafficking and traditional Chilean values on the campaign trail.
In rural parts of Chile, as well as peripheral areas of the capital, some voters complained of a lack of public transportation to get to polling stations.
Videos circulating on social media showed long lines at bus stops — in bright sunshine and as temperatures rose above 80 degrees — and depots full of parked buses. Some Chileans even offered carpool solutions to neighbors in hopes of allowing everyone a chance to vote.
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Transport Minister Gloria Hutt gave a televised address to “categorically deny” that the government was holding back the buses. She also said that public transportation was running “somewhat better” than on a working day.
After a tense day of voting, a cacophony of car horns and effusive chants erupted in Santiago.
“I want a dignified pension and a sensible minimum wage to address Chile’s inequalities,” said Jorge Varas, 63, who said he proudly cast his vote for Boric.
“Chile needs hope, not fearmongering,” he said, “and a Boric presidency is the way to move Chile onward to the future we have always dreamed of.”