Leftist Millennial wins in presidential runoff
SANTIAGO, Chile — A leftist Millennial who rose to prominence during anti-government protests was elected Chile’s next president Sunday after a bruising campaign against a free-market firebrand likened to Donald Trump.
With more than 90% of polling stations reporting, Gabriel Boric had 56% of the votes, compared to 44% for his opponent, lawmaker Jose Antonio Kast.
Kast tweeted a photo of himself on the phone with his opponent congratulating him on his “grand triumph” as supporters of Boric gathered in downtown Santiago to celebrate. Outgoing President Sebastian Pinera held a video conference call with Boric to congratulate him.
“I am going to be the president of all Chileans,” Boric said in the brief televised appearance with Pinera.
Boric, 35, will become Chile’s youngest modern president when he takes office in March. He was among several activists elected to Congress in 2014 after leading protests for higher quality education. On the stump, he vowed to “bury” the neoliberal economic model left by Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship and raise taxes on the “super rich” to expand social services, fight inequality and boost protections of the environment.
Kast, who has a history of defending Chile’s past military dictatorship, finished ahead of Boric by two points in the first round of voting last month but failed to secure a majority of votes. That set up a runoff against Boric.
Boric was able to reverse the difference by a larger margin than even pre-election opinion polls forecast by expanding beyond his base in the capital, Santiago, and attracting voters in rural areas who don’t side with political extremes.
Kast, 55, a devout Roman Catholic and father of nine, emerged from the far right fringe after having won less than 8% of the vote in 2017. He rose steadily in the polls this time with a divisive discourse emphasizing conservative family values and playing on Chileans’ fears that a surge in migration — from Haiti and Venezuela — is driving crime.
A longtime lawmaker, he has a record of attacking Chile’s LGBTQ community and advocating more restrictive abortion laws.