Chile election: Fragmented country elects new president | In the most uncertain elections since the return of democracy

From Santiago

There are presidential elections in Chile this Sunday, and no one dares to make predictions. In a system that prevents the publication of polls or opinion polls, there is almost only one thing: there will be a second round. Is out Gabriel Borick The Broad Front, which emerged after the 2011 student movement – and the Social Convergence (Approve Dignity) group, which includes the Communist Party, which received 1,058,027 votes against the department’s primary election last June. Daniel Jade (Communist Party) reached only 692,000. With a plan that focuses on reforms of the prevailing neoliberal model, concern for the environment, feminism and the mental health agenda, the candidate is gaining confidence without engaging in the rhetoric of his rival ex-minister. Sebastian Chichel – President’s favorite Sebastian Pinera And entitlement – the one who accuses him of not completing his law studies or Jose Antonio Cast, The far-right, who pointed to Borik’s lack of work experience, who comes from his Croatian ancestors, has been a controversial figure in the South since 2014.

At the top of a tree

Precisely Picture of the candidate on top of a tree In his hometown of Punta Arena, where he first appeared on the television channel of the Primaries, it was about how naive, green, and willing he was to grow a new Chile. Emoji Almost official For those who follow you on social media. Or as he himself defined it: “The symbol of hope, the green system we want to propose in a seed planting culture and it will grow with the help of the community.” His rivals call him the “boy of the tree” with irony and perhaps a little jealousy.

In his final campaign speech on Friday, Borick said, “First of all, we’re part of a generation that took to the streets not to continue to profit from our rights.” In fact, the candidate for student leader has confronted the center-left who have ruled the country since its return to democracy in 1990, successfully managing a country economically shaped by dictatorship. A feature that was condemned in the academy even before the dictatorship Augusto Pinochet Lost in 1989 referendumOnly in the mid-2000s did it begin to become a massive center “Penguin Revolution” (Referring to the colors of the uniforms used in government schools) Then with the student movement in 2011.

“We say with great force that we are going to end AFPs (private retirement), but at the same time say that we are going to give dignity to the elderly who have worked all their lives. Borik insisted that we were going to end the health business, but that we were going to create a unique system that would not discriminate between rich and poor. At his address.

A country without political forces

However, not everyone buys boric speech. The same Marco Enriquez-Ominami He points out that the (Progressive Party) candidate is very changeable and, with the experience of the previous three campaigns, calls for war humility. Yasna Provoste (Christian Democracy) and he joined forces with the right-wing anti-victory forces, who win this first round. ME-O, popularly known in Chile, has a milestone that no one can snatch: in 2009 it received 20 percent of the vote, only to be overtaken by the former president. Eduardo Free Ruiz-Tagley And Pinora was elected. In other words, he seduced thousands of voters who were disappointed by the Consortium, while appealing to the Chilean left, which is increasingly in good standing with business and companies.

Although some international observers talk about a polarized country, it is determined by the seven candidates on the ballot, Chile is a fragmented country where none of them can represent political power. In the style of the Consortian de Bardidos – which was a group from Christian Democracy to the Socialist Party – it ruled from its return to democracy in 1990 until the victory of Pinara in 2010. Or the Nua Maoria party, a group affiliated with the former Consortian Communist Party, which in 2014 forced Michelle Bachelet to accept a second term in office to be handed over back to Pinara.

Yasna Provoste, a two-time bachelorette minister, can surprise anyone with a feminist speech and a renewal of the neo-liberal matrix, which is highly centralized and can ensure greater confidence in the elite: she represents the Constituent Unit, a federation of political parties. The old Conservatives, including the Party for Democracy, the Socialist Party and the Extremist Party.

Extreme right-wing threat

Initially all the chips on the right were placed on Sebastian Chichel. The lawyer, the former minister of Pinara and the frequent face of economic magazines, seemed like a firm letter. He promised continuity, but some economic adjustment would guarantee, no one knows, support for SMEs and better retirement but without changing the model or AFPs (pension fund managers) he would be a better defender. Conceiro, with a long past – many suspect – and little friend who joins the ruling parties (Renovación Nacional, Evópoli and Unión Democrática Independiente) in his campaign, because he is “freedom”.

Exactly in July, when he dared to overthrow his favorite Joaquin Lav in the primary and announced that he would not be photographing with supporters backing the fourth expected AFP, Jose Antonio Cast began to appear. Polls. Although he won seven percent in the 2017 election His interviews, where he defended the Pinochet dictatorship and rejected homosexual marriage, began to establish it as an alternative to those who longed for the dictatorship of the eighties. Already in September and October he is the most favorite according to the polls, the same – it has been shown – There are serious procedural errors and are even filled in by the interviewer at the request of those who finance them.

Is it really Cast Amanasa? Hard to know. In the last discussions he was weak, forgot his own plan and did not know how to justify actions such as “shrinking the state” or “supporting SMEs” as his army of bots on the internet affected social networks.

Meanwhile, almost no evidence is of the professor’s candidacy Eduardo Artes Union Patrotica, a loving man, he is the old extreme left and Franco ParisAn economist most closely associated with such libertarians Javier Milli He did not campaign in Chile, but has a restraining order against him for not paying alimony from the United States (he denies it).