The return of division between the Chilean elections began as a rise for the far right, Reuters said

By Gram Slattery and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s right-wing congressman Jose Antonio Kast is heading for polarized presidential election next month after finishing the first round of voting in Sunday’s first round, ahead of left-wing lawmaker and former protest leader Gabriel Boric.

With almost 97% of the vote counted, Kast won 27.94% of the vote compared to Boric’s 25.75%, a large gap between them and the rest of the group, although both had to be completely away from the majority.

The more moderate center-right candidates performed well, and may be a boost for Kast, who appears to be in pole position ahead of the Dec. 19 playoffs.

“It was a better night for the right than anyone expected,” said political adviser and columnist Gonzalo Cordero.

“Currently, Kaste is very likely to win the presidential election. Kaste would have to make very significant mistakes to lose in the next three weeks.”

The election, the largest division in the copper-producing country since it returned to democracy in 1990, has divided voters among those who want to shake Chile’s free market model and call for a tougher line against crime and immigration.

It comes after two years of demanding protests to improve the quality of life https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests-idUSKBN1X81N4. The demonstrations helped to continually rewrite the nation’s Pinochet-era constitution and spurred Boric’s candidacy, which for a large part of the race had comfortable leadership.

But the growing fatigue of Chileans disgusted with political violence, along with the widespread perception that crime is on the rise, has prompted Kast to https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/burning-metro-chile-election-divides-electors-prost- order-2021-11-20.

“Today, the people of Chile have spoken out,” Kaste said after reaching the results in a lengthy speech to his followers, as he has done for much of the campaign targeting crime and disorder, helping to overcome fears of protest violence and immigration.

He said the election was a choice between “freedom and communism” in Boric’s broad left-wing alliance that includes the Communist Party.

Boric, in the face of Kast’s fight to close the land next month, touched on crime and drug trafficking in his speech, which he rarely did before the vote, and acknowledged the need to expand his support base.

“It’s the crusade that hopes outweighs fear,” he said. “We need to look further and come out to bring people beyond our borders.”

Kast, the father of nine 55-year-old children, praised the neoliberal “economic legacy” of former dictator Augusto Pinochet https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pinochets-ghost-haunts-divisive-chilean -elections-2021-11 -21. His honest speeches, general conservatism, and sometimes ideas of idiosyncratic policies such as digging a ditch to reduce illegal immigration, he has often compared https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-bolsonaro-hard- right- caste-initiative-frank-talk-crime-focus-2021-11-16 rises with former US President Donald Trump and Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro.

Boric, a 35-year-old lawmaker who led student protests in 2011 to demand improvements in Chile’s education system, has pledged to reject the nation’s laissez-faire economic model https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/former-protest. -leader-boric-seeks-bury-chiles-neoliberal-past-2021-11-17, strengthening environmental protections and indigenous rights.

ROYAL ACTORS?

Unexpectedly, economist Franco Parisi, who lives in the United States and did not set foot in Chile during the campaign, was in third place with about 13% of the vote in the evening. This may be good for Kast, who, although more right-wing in social and cultural matters, shares many of Paris’s conservative economic beliefs.

Center-right candidate Sebastian Sichel and center-left candidate Yasna Provoste were left behind with 12.7% and 11.65% of the vote, respectively.

The current center-right president, Sebastian Pinera, is constitutionally banned from running again.

Kast and Boric will try to pick Sichel, Parisi and Provoste voters in the second round, making the most moderate contestants potential kings https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-centrists-overshadowed-election-could -still-play-kingmaker -2021-11-19.

“I will not vote for Gabriel Boric’s candidacy, and I have programmatic differences with Kast, but then I will notify him of any decision,” Sichel said when the results arrived, adding that he congratulated Kast for passing the second round.

“I don’t want the far left to win in Chile.”

Also in the spotlight on Sunday night were 155 seats in Chile’s lower house, 27 of the country’s 50 seats in the country’s upper house and all 16 positions in the nation’s 16 regional councils.

Members of the right-wing and conservative coalition MPs saw the night end with 23 seats in the Senate, while members of the center-left and hard-left coalitions were ready to end up with 22 seats. The remaining five seats were for independents not affiliated with major political coalitions.