The far-right José Antonio Kast and the leftist Gabriel Boric appear tied with 39% of the intention to vote for the second round of the presidential election in Chile, scheduled for December 19, according to a study carried out by the consulting firm Cadem.
The poll was conducted between November 19 and 21 and the question posed to the participants was: “If the second presidential round were this Sunday, who would you vote for?” There were 22% of respondents who said they would not vote, do not know who they would vote for, or chose not to respond.
With 99% of the polls scrutinized, in this Sunday’s elections Kast obtained 27.9% of the votes and Boric, 25.8%. If Boric gathered the support of all the left and center-left groups that participated, it would reach 46.5% of the votes. If Kast managed to join the other block, seamlessly, it would add 53.5%.
However, according to the first known poll, these votes would not be transferred mechanically. An explanation can be sought in that large percentage of voters who assure that they will not vote.
The first positions
Both candidates began to seek agreements with those who are ideologically closest to obtain a majority in the ballot.
On the right, Kast has already received the “unconditional” support of the UDI and the promise of the ruling candidate Sebastián Sichel to sit down and negotiate a possible agreement. “We always argue that our program is not set in stone, that there are things that can be modified, that can be improved,” said Kast, who revealed that on Sunday night he spoke “with many leaders looking for meeting points.”
On the left, Boric got immediate support from the Socialist Party and the promise of the Christian Democrats to do everything possible to prevent the consecration of the extreme right.
Parisi, the faithful of the balance?
For his part, Franco Parisi, whose third place was the surprise on Sunday, announced that he will carry out a virtual consultation among his followers to define who they support in the second round.
“We are going to send the question to our adherents: Do you want to vote for candidate A, for candidate B, not vote? We believe in democracy,” said Parisi, who did not carry out the campaign in Chile because it is living in the United States, where he had to take refuge due to the different judicial cases that he has open in his country.
The situation in Congress
The two participants in the ballot achieved a weak parliamentary representation, but if they managed to align in their support all the ideologically more related forces, in this field Boric would face the presidency in better conditions than Kast, since the senators and senators to the left of the center outnumber those of the right, a scenario that is repeated in the Chamber of Deputies.
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