Chile: the investiture of Gabriel Boric, a new hopeful president
Left-wing candidate Gabriel Boric was elected President of Chile on December 19, 2021. AFP - MARTIN BERNETTI
Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow
4 mins
Chile is about to write a new page in its history: at only 36 years old, Gabriel Boric becomes this Friday the youngest president that the country has ever had.
His coming to power arouses immense hope in Chile and enthusiasm among Latin American neighbors.
What will be the political priorities of this representative of the left and what challenges await him?
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The investiture of Gabriel Boric is in a way the political culmination of
the social uprising
that shook Chile in 2019. This lawyer and former student leader was one of the leading figures in this vast protest movement against serious inequalities. that run through Chilean society.
Gabriel Boric
succeeded in winning the left-wing primary, then winning the presidential election against a far-right candidate.
His speech seduces: he promises a more protective state.
Put an end to a model inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship
"
You have to understand that today's Chile is a model partly inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship and then from thirty years of very unequal neoliberalism where almost all public spaces have been privatized
", explains Franck Gaudichaud, professor at Toulouse Jean Jaurès University and specialist in Chile.
For this professor who specializes in Chile, many Chileans expect Gabriel Boric to build a social state to try to bring back a little equality, free access on central issues, which are education for example, health, but also pensions that have been fully funded in Chile since
the dictatorship
.
Tax reform: the sinews of war
But to be able to make access to schools and universities free or to improve access to healthcare, the Chilean state needs revenue.
Chilean soil is full of copper, gold,
lithium
and even oil.
"
The question is how to redistribute this wealth
", emphasizes Olivier Compagnon, professor of contemporary history at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
“
The principle of redistribution, in Chile as elsewhere, is that the state be endowed with sustainable resources.
The only way to achieve this is through taxes, be it personal income tax, corporate tax or inheritance tax.
However, in Chile, the tax rates are extremely low
”, specifies Olivier Compagnon.
In this context, the major tax reform promised by Gabriel Boric will be in a way “
the sinews of war
” of the new government.
But this will not be easy, warns Olivier Compagnon: “
Because it requires a certain consent to tax, both from individuals, but also from industrialists.
And it is very likely that Gabriel Boric will meet very strong opposition.
»
A president without a majority in Parliament
These “
strong oppositions
”, the new president will have to face them in Parliament too.
The young Chilean head of state knows that a majority of Chileans are expecting profound social reforms from him.
He also knows that he will probably have to make political concessions, “
since his left-wing coalition is completely in the minority at the level of the Chamber of Deputies and even more so in the Senate
”, notes Franck Gaudichaud.
“
Consequently, Gabriel Boric is going to need permanent agreements with parties that are outside his coalition, notably the Christian Democracy and the Socialist Party.
There will be permanent tensions between social demands and a government which has very little room for maneuver and which has already started to back down on its campaign promises
, ”says this professor at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès.
If this pragmatism displayed by the new president is already causing some disappointment within his own political coalition, elsewhere on the continent, we see in him the star of a new Latin American left, committed as much to the fight against inequalities than in the defense of democratic values.
Constituent process: the baptism of fire
As Gabriel Boric takes the reins of the country, a
Constituent Assembly
is in the process of drafting
a new Constitution
.
The final text must be submitted to a referendum, probably in September.
According to Franck Gaudichaud, this Assembly “
positions itself politically very to the left and is very influenced by social movements.
Those who elected Gabriel Boric have the hope that he will protect this constituent process and help to put it in place.
But there will be many difficulties
”.
The difficulties are multiple since first of all, as Olivier Compagnon also recalls, “
44% of Chileans voted in the second round of the presidential election for the far-right candidate.
It is people nostalgic for the dictatorship who will vote against this new constitutional text.
And if by chance it were not approved, it would place the Boric government in a situation not far from ungovernability
”.
If the new Constitution was adopted during the referendum, there is currently no timetable for "
the implementation of this profound transformation of Chile and its institutions
", adds Franck Gaudichaud.
In the meantime, the investiture of Gabriel Boric and the coming to power of his very young and
very feminine
government , 14 of the 24 ministers are women, will arouse a certain enthusiasm this Friday in Chile, that's for sure.
The new president will then address his fellow citizens this evening from the balcony of the Moneda Palace in Santiago, as tradition dictates.
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Chile
Gabriel Boric