Chile renews its leadership | Opinion

What should have been right the definition of right and left candidates in order to the presidential elections of November 21 in Chile, it was representative of important changes in the main candidates in these elections.

The electoral system provided for internal consultations with each force to define who would be their candidate in November. Only a right-wing bloc and a left-wing bloc have chosen this democratic definition. Other forces, including the alliance of the Socialist Party with the Christian Democrats who ruled the country until recently, have not resorted to this type of consultation.

The first positive surprise was the participation of the population, higher than in previous queries. But the main phenomenon of this greater participation was that of young people, which certainly has a lot to do with the surprising results. Since Chile ended compulsory voting, currently under consideration in Congress, it has drastically reduced voter turnout, reaching very low levels. The main absentees were young people, privileged victims of political discredit campaigns. Some generations did not even register on the electoral roll.

This started to change with the great mobilizations that started in 2019, which were the subject of a plebiscite and led to thethe convocation and election of a Constitutive Convention, which begins to draft a new constitution for Chile. Young people were the protagonists of these demonstrations and began to vote in increasing proportions.

In the internal query on the right and left, the reflection it was a change in the results predicted by the polls. The main historical leader of the Chilean right, Joaquim Lavín, presented as a presidential candidate, was defeated by a politician from the Christian Democrats and independent candidate, Sebastien Sichel, with more moderate positions. His victory also represents an obstacle for the DC to have its own candidate, Since Sichel has already received votes from this current, he made himself known and beat the far right. The center or the search for candidates of a “third way” reduces its space.

Something similar, but much more important, happened in left field. First because, showing his strength, the consultation on the left had more participation than the one on the right, reshowing how it competes with good prospects in the November election.

Second, because he conceived a candidacy for the renewal of the left, which was built during the campaign, led by the Frente Amplio – the front of several groups of the new Chilean left, which emerged as part of the student mobilizations.

Until the consultation, the favorite of the left was the leader of the Communist Party, Daniel Jadue, who won the last general election for the presidential election with 17%, followed by Lavín with 15%. With a confident performance in the debates and relying on the party apparatus, he was seen as the left’s likely candidate in this year’s election.

In the big forehead, Beatriz Sánchez, presidential candidate in 2017, with a surprising 20% ​​of the vote, did not wish to stand again, leaving room for a new leadership. It is this space occupied by Gabriel Boric, a leader from the student protests, a lawyer who has just turned 35, the minimum age to be a candidate for the presidency in Chile.

Boric was presented with a renewing platform for the Chilean left – ecological, feminist, decentralizing, among other aspects – and surprised. He got over a million votes and 60% of the votes. His most democratic style, open to listening to proposals and criticisms, appeared to be the most coherent with the revival of the Chilean left, unlike Jadue’s harsher and more rigid style. For right and left queries, the traditional parties have been defeated: the right-wing UDI, the left-wing Communist Party, overtaken by an independent candidate from the right and the Frente Amplio from the left.

Boric’s victory represents a great victory for the Frente Amplio and projects him as a strong candidate in the October presidential elections in Chile. As in the case of the victory of a moderate right-wing candidate, Boric takes a step back on the Concertación and, in particular, on the Socialist Party, part of which has already voted for Boric during the internal consultation of the FA.

Boric’s first task will be to consolidate support for the Communist Party and the sectors that have supported Jadue. The latter immediately spoke out in favor of Boric and called for unity so that the left could win in November.

The second task is to win the support of the Socialist Party, by isolating the Christian Democrats and conquering the center-left formations in Chile, to become a national majority force.

Boric already declared, in the victory speech, that “neoliberalism, which was born in Chile, will die in Chile”, revealing the consciousness of the character that its government should have. Unlike the Concertation governments, which maintained the neoliberal model inherited from Pinochet. He will also be able to count on the new Constitution, which must eliminate the remains of the Pinochet Magna Carta.

Boric has a big challenge ahead of him, first of all, to win the November election. Then add Chile to the bloc of progressive and anti-neoliberal countries in Latin America.