Chile’s new president, whether he is Pinochetista José Antonio Kast or leftist Gabriel Boric, who will run in the second round, is unlikely to have a consolidated majority in Congress at the start of the legislature in March 2022.
With 100% of the votes counted by Servel (Electoral Service), the election results released on Monday (22) show that the Chamber and Senate will have a change of forces, marked by the same renewal seen in the presidential dispute.
By consolidating the data, a difference of just over two percentage points separated the first and second place in the election: according to the official results, the ultra-rightist Kast had 27.9% of the votes, against 25.8% for deputy Gabriel Boric. The surprise of the vote was third place for the right-wing economist Franco Parisi (12.8%), who made the entire campaign virtually, in the US.
In the parliamentary election, the renewal of the entire Chamber and just over half of the Senate was at stake. Among the deputies, the center-left linked to the parties that formerly formed the Concertación —which governed Chile for 20 years— shrank, while the right and a new left grew, albeit fragmented into several caucuses.
Divided between the Frente Amplio and the communist and socialist parties, the left will have 74 seats, out of a total of 155. The right will have 68. Independents have also grown, which will total seven parliamentarians, and the Partido de la Gente, led by Parisi , with six elected names.
In the Senate, in turn, which appointed 27 new members (out of a total of 43), the right will have half the seats.
Neither Kast nor Boric, therefore, will have a consolidated majority in Congress. In addition to possible support agreements in the second round and party fragmentation, there is a lack of knowledge about the directions that acronyms such as Parisi’s can take in practice and programmatic differences within the left — while the Concertation includes the more morally conservative Christian Democrats , the Frente Amplio embraces more progressive and pro-abortion forces, for example.
“In Parliament, the right must reorganize, with Kast’s party [Republicano] having more strength, while, on the left, the children outnumber the parents. In other words, the Concertación shrinks and the main force will be the parties that make up the Frente Amplio”, he tells sheet the analyst and doctor in political philosophy Cristóbal Bellolio. “In other words, it’s a generational shift in Chilean politics.”
Another highlight of the election this Sunday (21) was the participation of the electorate, 47.2%. Low turnout has been a tradition in the country since 2012, when voting was no longer mandatory, and this year, it leaves the presidential race open.
The two candidates who passed the second round have already started to moderate their speeches, seeking the support of voters who abstained and those most linked to the center.
“Kast must leave the cultural battle, of defending the typical flags of the extreme right, to deal with economic stability and pacification of the country”, says Bellolio. “Boric is already beginning to incorporate themes that are not preferred by the left to which he belongs, such as security and the fight against drug trafficking.”
The second round is scheduled for December 19th. “This reframing of speeches started in the post-vote speeches and should mark the coming weeks.”
On Monday, the markets reacted well to the results of the polls, with the recovery of the Chilean peso against the dollar and a rise in the Santiago Stock Exchange.
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