35-year-old student leader the new president of  Chile

EFA  – A 35-year-old congressman and former student leader Gabriel Boric, champion of the Broad Front won the Presidency of Chile on Sunday by obtaining 55.7% of the votes with 92% of the polls scrutinized.

Boric defines himself as an environmentalist, feminist and regionalist.

“I will be the president of Chile of all Chileans, I will not govern only between four walls,” Boric said during a televised phone call with the outgoing president, the conservative Sebastián Piñera.

His opponent, far-right lawyer José Antonio Kast, obtained 44.27% of the votes, one of the largest differences in a ballot in recent Chilean history.

Kast, who prevailed in the first round of November 21 with only 2 points of advantage, recognized with just over half of the tables scrutinized the victory of the former student leader, who will become the youngest president in March 2022 the recent history of Chile.

“I just spoke with Gabriel Boric and I have congratulated him on his great triumph. From today he is the elected president of Chile and deserves all our respect and constructive collaboration. Chile is always first,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Boric wants to expand the role of the state towards a welfare model similar to that of Europe.

He will be the most leftist president since the government of the overthrown Salvador Allende (1973-1990) and the first who is not part of the two great blocs that shared power since the return to democracy in 1990.

“I am happy because I have been in Plaza Dignidad since October 18 (the day the wave of protests in 2019 broke out) and I was very afraid of the extreme right. I am happy because democracy won, “university student Bárbara Gómez told EFE at the doors of the hotel where the command of the virtual president-elect is meeting.

The same joy showed on the way to the celebrations Ignacio Valdés, 34 years old. “Chile has said no to fascism,” he assured Efe.

The experts pointed out that the difference between the two would be very narrow and would depend on participation, which in the first round of November 21 barely reached 50% of the roll.

According to official data, Boric obtained broad support in the capital, where half of the voters are, and in other regions with large urban centers, such as Valparaíso, where he gained almost 20 points of advantage.

It would also have prevailed even in the northern region of Antofagasta, an area that was won in the first round by Franco Parisi, a controversial economist whose voters mostly supported Kast in the run-up to the ballot.

Among the main challenges of the future Government will be to channel the social crisis that continues to exist since the 2019 protests, to lead the implementation of the norms of the new Constitution, and to face the economic challenges left by the pandemic.

Boric wants to expand the role of the state towards a welfare model similar to that of Europe.