The candidates Kast and Boric

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November 20, 2021 Tomorrow, in a post-pandemic context marked by strong socio-economic and political instability, 15 million Chileans are expected to vote (from 11 to 21) for the presidential elections, in addition to those of the Congress (the entire Chamber , 155 deputies, and half the Senate, 27 seats) and regional and municipal councilors. The choice of a successor to the conservative Sebastián Piñera is very open as 50% of the voters are still undecided on which candidate to support. This is the vote with the most uncertain outcome since the advent of democracy in Chile 31 years ago, as well as being the fourth election since 2020, in a phase of profound institutional change after the widespread social protests in October 2019. the background to the vote is that on inflation at 6%,a generalized crisis of confidence in traditional parties and institutions as well as the fact that an Assembly is drafting a new Constitution. The crucial electoral appointment confronts seven candidates even if it is mainly outlined as a direct face to face between two of them, politically the opposite: the radical leftist Frente Amplio deputy, Gabriel Boric, 35, the youngest aspiring president in history , and far-right Republican Party lawyer, 55-year-old José Antonio Kast. In the running are two other candidates who enjoy some support, in particular that of the center-right coalition currently in power, 44-year-old Sebastian Sichel, and the only woman, former minister and senator of the center-left, 51-year-old Yasna Provoste.Assembly is drafting a new Constitution. The crucial electoral appointment confronts seven candidates even if it is mainly outlined as a direct face to face between two of them, politically the opposite: the radical leftist Frente Amplio deputy, Gabriel Boric, 35, the youngest aspiring president in history , and far-right Republican Party lawyer, 55-year-old José Antonio Kast. In the running are two other candidates who enjoy some support, in particular that of the center-right coalition currently in power, 44-year-old Sebastian Sichel, and the only woman, former minister and senator of the center-left, 51-year-old Yasna Provoste.Assembly is drafting a new Constitution. The crucial electoral appointment confronts seven candidates even if it is mainly outlined as a direct face to face between two of them, politically the opposite: the radical leftist Frente Amplio deputy, Gabriel Boric, 35, the youngest aspiring president in history , and far-right Republican Party lawyer, 55-year-old José Antonio Kast. In the running are two other candidates who enjoy some support, in particular that of the center-right coalition currently in power, 44-year-old Sebastian Sichel, and the only woman, former minister and senator of the center-left, 51-year-old Yasna Provoste.The crucial electoral appointment confronts seven candidates even if it is mainly outlined as a direct face to face between two of them, politically the opposite: the radical leftist Frente Amplio deputy, Gabriel Boric, 35, the youngest aspiring president in history , and far-right Republican Party lawyer, 55-year-old José Antonio Kast. In the running are two other candidates who enjoy some support, in particular that of the center-right coalition currently in power, 44-year-old Sebastian Sichel, and the only woman, former minister and senator of the center-left, 51-year-old Yasna Provoste.The crucial electoral appointment confronts seven candidates even if it is mainly outlined as a direct face to face between two of them, politically the opposite: the radical leftist Frente Amplio deputy, Gabriel Boric, 35, the youngest aspiring president in history , and far-right Republican Party lawyer, 55-year-old José Antonio Kast. In the running are two other candidates who enjoy some support, in particular that of the center-right coalition currently in power, 44-year-old Sebastian Sichel, and the only woman, former minister and senator of the center-left, 51-year-old Yasna Provoste.far-right lawyer of the Republican Party, 55-year-old José Antonio Kast. In the running are two other candidates who enjoy some support, in particular that of the center-right coalition currently in power, 44-year-old Sebastian Sichel, and the only woman, former minister and senator of the center-left, 51-year-old Yasna Provoste.far-right lawyer of the Republican Party, 55-year-old José Antonio Kast. In the running are two other candidates who enjoy some support, in particular that of the center-right coalition currently in power, 44-year-old Sebastian Sichel, and the only woman, former minister and senator of the center-left, 51-year-old Yasna Provoste.



The eventual ballot on 19 December


The big favorites are therefore the representatives of the two most antagonistic political poles, but in the absence of solid polls, whose dissemination is prohibited by law starting two weeks before the vote, it is difficult to predict Sunday's electoral result. Probably the name of the future president will not come out from the first round, so the Chileans will have to return to the polls on December 19. Furthermore, to make the ballot an almost mandatory step is the voluntary voting system, launched in 2012, which usually leads to a rather low turnout. In Chile Venezuelans and Peruvians, the first and second largest foreign community, 400,000 people in all, will be able to express their preference. Since October 2019, Chile has plunged into a climate of severe political instability,in the wake of social protests to challenge price increases and a system based on inequalities, dating back to the era of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Observers underline that whoever is elected will have the task of calming the waters and putting the country back on the path of stability and social peace, smoothing out inequalities and constitutional reforms. In this particularly volatile context, one of the reasons for analysts' attention is the strong rise of the far right in recent months, seen as the direct consequence of mediocrity and the deterioration of Chilean politics.Observers underline that whoever is elected will have the task of calming the waters and putting the country back on the path of stability and social peace, smoothing out inequalities and constitutional reforms. In this particularly volatile context, one of the reasons for analysts' attention is the strong rise of the far right in recent months, seen as the direct consequence of mediocrity and the deterioration of Chilean politics.Observers underline that whoever is elected will have the task of calming the waters and putting the country back on the path of stability and social peace, smoothing out inequalities and constitutional reforms. In this particularly volatile context, one of the reasons for analysts' attention is the strong rise of the far right in recent months, seen as the direct consequence of mediocrity and the deterioration of Chilean politics.read as the direct consequence of mediocrity and the deterioration of Chilean politics.read as the direct consequence of mediocrity and the deterioration of Chilean politics.



Kast, the force of the far right


It is thus that, in full uncertainty and in the long wake of the wave of populism manifested in Latin America, the shadow of the extreme right stretches over Chile with Kast, nostalgic for the dictation of Pinochet (1973-1990) for the order and the economic impetus given to the country, as well as being in tune with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former US President Donald Trump. A lawyer by profession, for 20 years he served in the ultra-conservative Independent Democratic Union (Udi) party and since 2000 he has been elected deputy for four legislatures. In 2019 he created the Republican Party which today leads him to his second electoral attempt: in 2017 he had reached the fourth place in the presidential elections, with 7.93% of the votes, while today he is 20% in voting intentions. Married with nine children,he is an active member of the conservative Catholic Schoenstatt movement. The son of German immigrants who arrived in Chile in 1951, his father joined the army during the Nazi regime, although the candidate said it was "out of obligation". In Chile, his family settled in the small town of Paine, on the outskirts of Santiago, where he made his fortune with a traditional German sausage factory and with Bavaria, a chain of restaurants from which he disassociated himself a few years ago. It promises to restore social order and maintain the economic model that made Chile a prosperous country, but with an inequality that fractures its society. At the end of his campaign, Kast denounced the "totalitarianism" that rages in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. For some analysts, Kast represents "theless dangerous option for Chile, which lives with the terror of the radical left and the violent vandalism that exploded in recent street protests. "After all, for the political analyst Marta Lagos, far-right authoritarianism has never disappeared from the scene Chilean politics after the end of the dictatorship: if in the 90s the pro Pinochet were 40%, today they are still 20%.



Boric, the challenge of the radical left


Opposite Kast is the young deputy Gabriel Boric, candidate of Apruebo Dignidad, who unites the Frente Amplio and the Communist Party, another great favorite in the ballot which for many embodies the idea of ​​building a new society, in which well-being it will finally be guaranteed to everyone and not just a minority. Boric, a millennial leader, has a path as a left-wing activist behind him and now holds the title of the youngest presidential candidate in Chilean political history. Born in 1986, he accuses Chilean democracy of having pursued an economic model actually set up by the dictatorship, making Chile an individualistic country, with a middle and lower class indebted for access to health, education and private pensions. In 2011, as leader of the Student Federation of theUniversity of Chile, was leading student protests to demand free education in one of the most expensive countries in the world. The young Boric, with Catalan and Croatian origins, has all the credentials to get to the second round, thus ferrying Chile towards a new phase of its democracy. His detractors criticize him for his political inexperience, for his alliance with the Communists, for his lack of a university degree despite having finished the Faculty of Law and also for his changes of position.then lead Chile towards a new phase of its democracy. His detractors criticize him for his political inexperience, for his alliance with the Communists, for his lack of a university degree despite having finished the Faculty of Law and also for his changes of position.then lead Chile towards a new phase of its democracy. His detractors criticize him for his political inexperience, for his alliance with the Communists, for his lack of a university degree despite having finished the Faculty of Law and also for his changes of position.



Sichel, the center-right in difficulty


The two favorites will compete with the 44-year-old lawyer Sebastián Sichel, without party affiliation and with a past in the center-left. Last July, Sichel surprisingly won the primary organized by the center-right, defeating the other three most prominent candidates. He presents himself as the moderate candidate Chileans need and has prestigious institutional experiences behind him, as president of the State Bank and former Minister of Social Development of the Piñera government. However, his popularity has been tarnished in part by some ambiguous behavior and misdirection, such as lobbying private companies in his tenure as a lawyer. For this reason, some members of the ruling coalition withdrew their support for Sichel. His difficult childhood is often evoked,with a mother with alcohol problems, a violent stepfather until he found stability in his grandfather's house which allowed him to study at the Catholic University of Chile, where he began to gain recognition from the elite. At 30, he met his biological father and decided to change his surname and is now married with three children.



Provoste, on the pitch for the center left


The only woman in the running for the presidential elections is Yasna Provoste, 51, a candidate of the New Social Pact cartel, who presents herself as the heir to Concertación, the center-left coalition that has often ruled over the past 31 years. Proud of her Diaguita descent, an indigenous people originally from the North, from 2001 to 2004 she began her political career as governor of her native region, Atacama. From 2004 to 2006 she was Minister of Planning under the presidency of the socialist Ricardo Lagos and in 2008, during the mandate of Michelle Bachelet, she held the position of Minister of Education, from which she was dismissed by Congress. In 2013 she became a deputy and then a senator and since last March she has been the presidency of the upper house.Christian Democrat exponent and physical education teacher, he led the left opposition in Congress to put pressure on the government of the conservative Piñera was to increase the social assistance given to cope with the pandemic.



Three minor candidates are also in the running: Marco Enríquez-Ominami, deputy, member of the Progressive Party;

Franco Parisi (People's Party), populist, and Eduardo Artés (Unión Patriótica), far left.