Ballottage in Chile: between democracy and dictatorship

chili it had a long tradition of institutional continuity. Since 1820, when the national state was affirmed, there have only been two moments of institutional rupture, one in the 1890s, another in the 1920s, both very short.

Until the brutal breakout of the 1973 coup. Pinochet ordered the bombing of La Moneda and, with it, the most dramatic breakdown of Chilean democracy, which lasted until 1990. The moderate democratic transition took until the massive popular mobilizations of 2019.

Mobilizations that have achieved Constituent Convention, with equal representation between men and women and with specific representation of the Mapuches. Convention that elected a Mapuche leader to preside over it.

At the same time, the presidential elections took place, which had the surprising result of the first place for the candidate of the extreme right, Jose Antonio Kast, with two points of advantage over the candidate of the new left Chilean Gabriel boric, of the Broad Front.

Kast beat the president’s candidate Sebastian Piñera, supported by the traditional Chilean right wing, which is greatly discredited by the failure of its government, but also by appearing in the Pandora Papers.

Boric, a former student leader, a direct participant in the great mobilizations of recent years, who barely turned 35, the minimum age to be a candidate for president of Chile. Boric defeated the candidate of the Communist Party in the internal left.

Since then, The polls range from clear advantages for Boric, a rebound for Kast, to an advantage of four points for him, one week before the second round of the elections.

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The oscillations must be maintained until the last moment, especially due to the 53% abstention of the first round. This figure is even higher among the young and the poorest sections of the population. To a large extent, the campaign for the second round has focused on the search for that enormous contingent, existing due to the decision a few years ago that voting was not compulsory – a decision that must be reviewed by the Constituent Convention. It is not clear how many of those who have abstained will vote in the ballottage and for whom.

Kast openly vindicates Pinochet -Therefore, to the dictatorship -, to Trump and Bolsonaro. It represents, therefore, the Chilean, Latin American and international extreme right.

Boric has a democratic, ecological, feminist program, of political decentralization towards the regions. He is supported by Latin American left-wing leaders, including Lula and Alberto Fernández.

One clearly represents Chile’s long democratic traditions. The other embodies the old and the new Chilean right, with extreme right-wing positions.

That is the decision that Chile will make next Sunday. Two candidates and two radically opposite currents will face each other.

If Boric wins, Chile will join the group of progressive and anti-neoliberal Latin American governments. If Kast wins, Chile will live isolated in a Latin American environment that goes in the opposite direction to the extreme right.

Chile is once again between democracy and dictatorship.

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