United Front Intl
No Result
View All Result
Monday, February 6, 2023
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • ShopNew
Contact us
United Front Intl
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • ShopNew

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
United Front Intl
No Result
View All Result
Home World

‘We did it!’ Chile’s Boric seals leftist revival with election win

by admin
December 19, 2021
in Politics, World
‘We did it!’ Chile’s Boric seals leftist revival with election win

Chile's presidential candidate Gabriel Boric takes a photo with supporters after casting his ballot at a polling station during the presidential election, in Punta Arenas, Chile December 19, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Carlos Avendano

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Reuters
By Anthony Esposito and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

Chilean leftist Gabriel Boric won the country’s presidential runoff election on Sunday, capping a major revival for the country’s progressive left that has been on the rise since widespread protests roiled the Andean country two years ago.

In downtown Santiago, supporters cheered, embraced and waved flags with Boric’s image, as well as rainbow flags of LGBT groups that have backed his socially inclusive policies as well as plans to overhaul Chile’s market-orientated economic model.

“We did it!” 39-year-old Paola Fernandez said tearfully as she hugged her daughter, adding she was happy because of Boric’s progressive policies.

With over 99% of ballots counted, Boric, 35, who leads a broad leftist coalition, had 55.86% of the vote, compared with 44.14% for far-right rival Jose Antonio Kast, who conceded defeat.

“I just spoke to @gabrielboric and congratulated him on his great success,” Kast said on Twitter. “From today he is the elected President of Chile and he deserves all our respect and constructive collaboration. Chile is always first.”

The protests in 2019 shone a spotlight on economic inequality and triggered an official redraft of the constitution.

“I am going to be the president of all Chileans,” Boric said in a call with center-right President Sebastian Pinera, who will step down in March.

‘I WANT REAL CHANGE’

Lucrecia Cornejo, 72, a seamstress, backed Boric’s pledge to fix inequalities in education, pensions and healthcare.

“I want equality, for us not to be as they call us, the ‘broken ones,’ more fairness in education, health and salaries,” she said. “I want real change.”

The election was the nation’s most divisive in decades, with the two candidates offering starkly different visions of the future. Kast, 55, ran a law-and-order campaign and was a defender of former dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Often likened to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and a hero of Chile’s “unapologetic right,”Kast has said that “two models for the nation” were going head-to-head.

Both candidates were from outside the centrist political mainstream that has ruled Chile since the return to democracy in 1990 after Pinochet’s military dictatorship. Both moderated their positions in recent weeks to win over centrist voters.

Miguel Angel Lopez, a professor at the University of Chile, said Boric faced a complex period ahead and would have to negotiate with the opposition due to a split Congress where neither side has a majority.

“He now has to make a strong speech where he tries to end the uncertainty. Lots will depend on that and on his appointments and his decisions. International investors will be very attentive to this.”

Boric supporters say he will overhaul the country’s economic model that dates back to Pinochet. It has been credited for driving economic growth, but attacked for creating sharp divides between rich and poor.

“We can close the chapter on the dark, damaging and abusive model that benefited a small minority,” said businessman Jorge Valdivia, 54, a Boric supporter.

Boric, who rose to prominence leading a student protest in 2011 to demand better and more affordable education, wrote in an open letter on Saturday that his government would make the changes Chileans had demanded in the 2019 social uprisings.

Those protests, which lasted months and at times turned violent, sparked a formal process to redraft Chile’s decades-old constitution, a text that will face a referendum next year.

“(That means) having a real social security system that doesn’t leave people behind, ending the hateful gap between healthcare for the rich and healthcare for the poor, advancing without hesitation in freedoms and rights for women,” Boric wrote.

Chilean presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast gives a speech to concede defeat after Chile’s presidential election, in Santiago, Chile, December 19, 2021. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Natalia Ramos; Editing by Adam Jourdan, Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney

Related

ShareTweetSendSend

Related Posts

India: The Modi Question
Videos

India: The Modi Question

January 26, 2023
What is known about new Covid variant XBB.1.5?
Coronavirus

What is known about new Covid variant XBB.1.5?

January 17, 2023
Speaker McCarthy: A weakened leader or emboldened survivor?
Politics

Speaker McCarthy: A weakened leader or emboldened survivor?

January 8, 2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Opening Remarks
Videos

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Opening Remarks

January 8, 2023
Argentina vs. France: MINI-MOVIE of 2022 FIFA World Cup final
Videos

Argentina vs. France: MINI-MOVIE of 2022 FIFA World Cup final

December 20, 2022
January 6 committee: What’s next for Trump legally and politically
US

January 6 committee: What’s next for Trump legally and politically

December 19, 2022

My Cart

The border buses: New York City’s migrant crisis | States of America
Videos

The border buses: New York City’s migrant crisis | States of America

by admin
January 30, 2023

Categories

  • Be in the Know
  • Coronavirus
  • Politics
  • US
  • Videos
  • World

UnitedFrontIntl Store

My Account & Ordering
Cart
Checkout
Track My Order
Refund and Returns Policy
Privacy Policy
FAQs

Site Navigation

  • Home
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • About Us
  • Shipping Policy

Links

CNBC
Reuters

The New York Times
The Washington Post


Your tax-deductible gift is vital and will help us fund and maintain our website to bring you current news and information on a daily basis. Thank you in advance.

© 2022 United Front Intl

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • Contact Us
  • Advertisement
  • Shop

© 2022 United Front Intl

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In