Surprises among prisoners of right and left in Chile: they lost the favorites

In a day with unexpected results and which once again pollsters could not predict, the anti-liberal left won with force the primaries in Chile and He reinforced his option to come to power in the presidential elections of November 21.

With 75% of the votes counted and in the middle of a participation rate close to the 2013 primaries, the conglomerate I approve Dignidad concentrated 1 million 183 thousand votes with the two candidates he presented, against the 938 thousand that the official bloc Chile Vamos added, which brought four candidates to the poll.

The surprise of the primaries, in any case, materialized in both political factions and led to the downfall of the two big favorites that emerged ahead of the electoral competition in the previous weeks and represent the generational change in Chilean politics. . On the left, the winner was Gabriel Boric (35), while on the right Sebastián Sichel (43) became the sector’s official candidate for the next elections.

The most brilliant victory, and which surprised a good part of the analysts, the deputy of the Front Large and former student leader Gabriel Boric overtook Communist mayor Daniel Jadue – and so far a big favorite in previous polls– with 60% of the votes against 39% of the votes. With 12,510 tables queried out of a total of 16,582, corresponding to 75.44%. Gabriel Boric is ahead of Daniel Jadue by 238,988 votes.

Among the reasons given by the experts, the fact that Boric – member of the Social Convergence party and former leader of the student revolt of 2011 – was essential. carried out a more agglutinating campaign which raised a lot in the last two weeks, and had a more remarkable performance in the debates.
“I want to thank the Chilean people who have led a dignified life for so long, but this model has not allowed it. To win in November, we have to be a lot more numerous, ”said the winner.

On the side of the ruling party, the other coup of the day was the election of the independent Sebastián Sichel, who beat the historic mayor of the community of Las Condes, Joaquín Lavín, with 48% of the preferences against 32% of the representative of the conservative Union Démocratique Indépendante. Further behind were Mario Desbordes (National Renewal) who added 10.4% and Ignacio Briones (from Evópoli) who reached 9% of the vote.

“When you love Chile, you can,” Sichel said in front of a legion of excited followers. Once the first results were known, he was congratulated by the rest of the candidates of the right-wing bloc: Joaquín Lavín, and his former colleagues in Sebastián Piñera’s cabinet: Sebastián Sichel and Ignacio Briones.

Besides Boric and Sichel, now it is expected that will happen to the other candidatures resulting from the primaries, like that of the socialist Paula Narvaez. of the far right José Antonio Kast and that of the moderate and president of the Senate Yasna Provoste, whose choice of center was strongly affected by the victory of the less radicalized candidates.