Chileans vote in highly polarized presidential election

SANTIAGO – Chileans volition ballot for a caller president Sunday pursuing a polarizing run successful which the starring candidates vowed to illustration starkly antithetic paths for the region's astir economically precocious state staggered by a caller question of societal unrest.

Pre-election polls constituent to a ample fig of undecided voters but consistently person favored 2 of the 7 candidates running: erstwhile pupil protestation person Gabriel Boric and his ideological opposite, José Antonio Kast, who has a past of defending Chile's subject dictatorship.

But neither is expected to garner capable enactment to transverse the 50% threshold required to debar a runoff ballot adjacent month. Within striking region of the 2 frontrunners are center-right campaigner Sebastián Sichel and halfway near erstwhile Education Minister Yasna Provoste. Also up for grabs is Chile's full 155-seat little location of legislature and astir fractional the senate.

Boric, 35, would go Chile's youngest modern president. He was among respective pupil activists elected to legislature successful 2014 aft starring protests for amended and higher prime education. Running arsenic the caput of a wide confederation that includes Chile's Communist Party, if elected helium says helium volition rise taxes connected the “super rich” to grow societal services and boost protections of the environment.

Ad

He's besides vowed to destruct the country's backstage pension strategy — 1 of the hallmarks of the escaped marketplace reforms imposed successful the 1980s by Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.

Kast, 55, from the recently formed Republican Party until precocious was seen arsenic an outsider connected the far-right fringe, having garnered little than 8% of the ballot successful 2017 arsenic an independent. But he's been steadily rising successful the polls this clip with a divisive sermon emphasizing blimpish household values arsenic good arsenic attacking migrants — galore from Haiti and Venezuela — helium blames for crime.

A fervent Roman Catholic and begetter of nine, Kast has besides taken purpose astatine the outgoing President Sebastian Pinera for allegedly betraying the economical bequest of Pinochet, which his member helped instrumentality arsenic the dictator's cardinal slope president.

Whoever wins volition instrumentality implicit a state successful the grips of large alteration but uncertain of its aboriginal people aft decades of centrist reforms that mostly near untouched Pinochet's economical model.

Ad

Pinera's determination to hike subway fares successful 2019 sparked months of monolithic protests that rapidly spiraled into a nationwide clamor for much accessible nationalist services, 1 that exposed the crumbling foundations of Chile's “economic miracle.”

Gravely weakened by the unrest, Pinera begrudgingly agreed to a plebiscite connected rewriting the Pinochet-era constitution. In May, the assembly charged with drafting the caller magna carta was elected and is expected to reason its enactment sometime adjacent year.

Meanwhile, successful a caller motion of the tensions Pinera volition permission behind, the billionaire president was impeached successful the little location earlier dodging removal by the legislature implicit an offshore concern woody successful which his household a decennary agone sold its involvement successful a mining task portion helium was serving the archetypal of 2 non-consecutive terms.

___

Goodman reported from Miami

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.