The most tense election in more than three decades of democracy in Chile

• Gabriel Boric The ally of Podemos in Chile that did achieve the 'sorpasso'

• José Antonio Kast The conservative right-wing without complexes who asks not to be called "ultra"

José Antonio Kast and Gabriel Boric reached the decisive day in a head-to-head that, a couple of years ago, would have been unimaginable.

The conservative right without complexes of the first and the hard left of the second disputed the presidency of Chile this Sunday, which

, center-left and center-right governments.

It's not like that. On a Sunday of extremely high temperatures at the gates of the southern summer, Chileans mobilized to elect the man who will replace

and will govern from March 2022. The day passed calmly, although with important reproaches from the left, who

, which circulated with a frequency below 50% of a business day. In a country in which less than 50% of the electoral roll voted a month ago, the lack of transportation has a special impact on the left-wing coalition, which has its largest pool of votes in urban centers.

Before transportation became evident as a problem, Boric voted and promised a quiet night:

Kast did not go that far and opened the possibility of a vote-by-vote dispute:

If that result is very narrow, clearly the proxies have a role.

Below 50,000 votes is a narrow result.

There are 45,000 tables, one vote per table.

"If I win, I hope that Boric comes to our command. And I,

, I

, because we have recovered the political balance of the nation."

What does Kast, 55 and a quarter with only 8% of the vote four years ago mean when he talks about "political balance"?

It refers to the preeminence of the left in the Constituent Convention that must deliver next year a new Constitution to replace the one sanctioned in 1980 under the dictatorship of

.

And it also refers to the fact that the first round of November 21 left a much more balanced Congress between left and right.

But the political balance also depends on what the winning candidate does.

In Spanish terms,

, an unapologetic conservative right, although his ways and means are much kinder.

However, already in La Moneda, Kast cannot be Vox: he will

if he wants his Government not to be shaken from the start.

The same will happen to Boric if he wins: he will need to confirm that look at the center that he exhibited in the campaign for the second round.

He won the primaries and overcame the first round

, but to govern it will need to be, above all, the PSOE.

Once the model that prevailed in the country for 30 years, that of the center-left and center-right alternating in power,

.

The film, however, shows that a restraint, a look towards the center, is the best way.

Chile needs it after more than two hectic years that began in October 2019 with a student protest over the increase in the price of the subway ticket.

of one of the most extensive and modern networks in Latin America

and Chilean politics changed forever: the right and the left agreed to a plebiscite for constitutional reform.

What can Boric offer, who at 35 years aspires to become the youngest president in the history of his country?

in very complex moments. He demonstrated it during the social outbreak, in very critical moments,"

, senator of the left-wing coalition

, told EL MUNDO

. "He played a role of the State, of a statesman, despite his youth, and I think that is valued across the board. He is a very intelligent person who has convictions and his vocation for human rights is very clear. He

Human rights play a central role in the Chilean election.

Kast knows this well, that three days before the vote he received terrible news:

, Pinochet's widow, died at the age of 99.

Kast, who in the past and even during the electoral campaign has praised the man who ruled Chile dictatorially between 1973 and 1990, needed anything but the embodiment of the ghost of Pinochet on the closing day of the campaign.

But that's what happened.

"El Boric does know about campaign closings," a user on social networks ironic.

"I did not know Mrs. Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet.

, I do not have a link," Kast told ADN Radio.

"We have already made so many historical considerations, so many analyzes have been made of what was the military government or dictatorship or authoritarian regime, hundreds have been made, is that going to repair the institutional desire, the pain of the people who suffered so much in the The government of

and Augusto Pinochet? It is not going to repair it.

added Kast.

The funeral of Pinochet's widow finally ran in strict reserve.

Will the memory of the dictatorship mobilize some voters of the left who had originally chosen to stay at home?

But just as the memory of Pinochetism buckles it to the left, the presence of the Communist Party in Boric's coalition scares many voters from the right and the moderate center.

"I have a small business and my wife rents two apartments. We live well, with just enough things.

. I don't want them to come back," Cristian, owner of a transport company, told EL MUNDO .

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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