Santiago de Chile: Two candidates with diametrically opposed government programs, José Antonio Kast and Gabriel Boric, won the first round of the presidential elections in Chile and will go to the second round on December 19, Prensa Latina publishes.
With almost all of the votes counted today, Kast, from the far-right Republican Party, obtained 27.9 percent, closely followed by Boric, from the left-wing Apruebo Diginidad, with 25.8.
Neither of them are part of the parties that have ruled the country during the last three decades, which is due to the discredit of traditional political formations, especially after the social outbreak of 2019.
Kast, a 55-year-old lawyer, is a staunch defender of neoliberalism, plans to lower public spending, lower taxes on large companies and promote the free market.
Boric, a 35-year-old former student leader, promises, on the contrary, to strengthen the state, collect higher taxes from the richest, and move towards a new fair and sustainable economic project.
“The path of change that we have proposed to the country is the only one that guarantees a way out of the crisis to which those who have governed in recent years irresponsibly led us”, he said.
In an act before his sympathizers, the also deputy for the Magallanes region promised to guarantee decent salaries and pensions for all, promote a universal health system and reduce the working day to 40 hours a week.
Kast, on his part, focused his speech on the need to apply heavy-handed policies and reinforce the security forces.
“Make no mistake here, the only presidential candidacy that will end terrorism is the one we represent,” said the far-right candidate, a follower of the positions of the Brazilian head of state, Jair Bolsonaro, and the former US president. Donald Trump.
Kast supports the militarization of the southern area where the Mapuche people live and intends to dig a ditch on the border to prevent migrants from entering, while Boric advocates for dialogue to resolve the ancestral conflict in La Araucanía and for the ratification of the international agreements on migration issues.
The leftist representative was part of the Agreement for Peace that paved the way for drafting a new Constitution to replace the one in force since the time of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990).
His rival, on the other hand, voted against the replacement of the Magna Carta, denies the human rights violations committed during the dictatorship and affirms that if Pinochet were alive, she would vote for him.
Chileans will have to choose between these two visions when they go to the polls next month to choose the replacement for Sebastián Piñera. (BSH)