Chile: former student leader Gabriel Boric elected president of Chile at 35

The leftist candidate Gabriel Boric was elected president of Chile on December 19, 2021. AFP - MARTIN BERNETTI

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1 min

This Sunday, December 19 took place the most important presidential election since the end of the dictatorship in 1990. Two completely opposed candidates clashed: that of the extreme right José Antonio Kast, and that of the left, Gabriel Boric.

The latter won with more than 55% of the vote, according to more than 80% of polling stations counted.

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With our correspondent in Santiago,

Concerts of horns sound in the headquarters of Gabriel Boric, in the center of Santiago, the capital of Chile. The candidate from the left is the new president. It was he who won the presidential election and the second round that was played this Sunday. " 

 ": an emblematic song of the Latin American left, is sung.

Gabriel Boric, still at university ten years ago, was one of the leaders of the free education protests.

He would win with nearly 55% of the votes, results after more than 80% of the ballots counted.

This represents a much wider margin than predicted by the polls, which gave a very narrow result.

It is such that the far-right candidate, José Antonio Kast, has already admitted defeat.

Difficult task

The new president Gabriel Boric defends the Constituent Assembly and the drafting of a new Constitution currently underway to replace the current text inherited from the dictatorship.

He promises deep social reforms to move towards a welfare state rather than the neoliberal economic model inherited from the era of Auguto Pinochet.

But he will not have it easy, because the parliament is very fragmented and the economic situation next year looks gloomy.

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