Chile Runoff Will Pit Rightwing Populist Against Student Protest Leader
HAVANA TIMES – In Chile, two presidential candidates — a far-right populist and a former student protest leader — will face off in a runoff election next month after neither candidate received enough votes Sunday to declare victory. With more than 90 percent of ballots counted, far-right presidential hopeful José Antonio Kast appeared to lead in the first round. Kast opposes abortion and marriage equality, and ran a campaign on anti-immigration rhetoric. He’s also an apologist for the former U.S.-backed Pinochet dictatorship. Meanwhile, Gabriel Boric is a 35-year-old, former student activist, who supports progressive social reforms and an overhaul of neoliberal economic policies.
These were the results from Sunday’s voting:
- José Antonio Kast: 27,91%
- Gabriel Boric: 25,83%
- Sebastián Shichel 12,79%
- Franco Parisi 12,80%
- Yasna Provoste 11,61%
The runoff elections will be on December 19th.
A typical example of collusion between conservatism and the far right.
Despite the countless examples over the decades, some Conservatives deny that this collusion has ever existed.