Chilean poll on a ‘knife-edge’ as millennial battles Right-winger

CHILEANS go to the polls today as a millennial former protest leader faces a far-Right candidate in a knife-edge presidential race.

Gabriel Boric, a Leftist former student leader, goes head-to-head with José Antonio Kast, a Right-wing devout Catholic, in the run-off vote, with the campaign fought on divisive issues such as abortion and national security.

Mr Boric, 35, plans to overhaul Chile’s liberal economic model, which he claims will eradicate inequality and strengthen social welfare.

It is the first presidential election since widespread protests in 2019, as millions marched against inequality and rising costs of living. Violent clashes between police and protesters left more than 30 dead, while buildings were set aflame and shops were looted.

Protesters’ rage was directed at President Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire businessman who was accused of being out of touch with Chileans’ hardships.

He conceded to demands for a new constitution to replace the 1980 charter, which was illegitimately introduced during the Pinochet dictatorship.

Mr Kast shares Mr Piñera’s defence of the existing free-market economy, crediting the private sector for giving Chile one of the highest per capita incomes in South America.

Mr Boric first rose to prominence as a student protest leader in 2011.

He has tidied up his former trademark dishevelled look since launching his presidential campaign, substituting suits for untucked plaid shirts and trimming his long, unkempt hair.

He has consistently pushed for progressive policies that include safe abortion access in a country where women can only terminate pregnancies under limited circumstances – in the case of rape, if the mother’s life is at risk, or if the foetus is not expected to survive.

Mr Kast, a 55-year-old father of nine, founded his Republican Party with the goal to “defend life from conception until natural death”.

Valentina Carrasco, 20, is fearful that a Kast government would be “a step backward” for Chile.

“We are days away from an election that puts rights at risk,” she said while protesting against Mr Kast in Santiago.