The Chilean campaign even had scenes of magical realism. In the middle of the debate, José Antonio Kast, the exponent of the extreme right, began waving the Cuban flag, alluding to the threat of a Castroist dictatorship in the country, before the incredulous eyes of the other presidential candidates.
His almost guaranteed passage to the second round in this Sunday’s election (21) makes the parallel between the Chilean and Brazilian situation inevitable. Here and there, an extremist arrives at the gates of power, waving anti-left ghosts and marching over the ruins of the political system. But the reality is more complex.
As Professor Simon Escoffier, from the Catholic University of Chile explained to the columnist, this year’s elections are the peak of a transformation process that began in 2011.
The 2015 reform of the electoral system, the launch of a Constituent Assembly with the support of 80% of the population and the political decline of tutelary leaders such as former president Michelle Bachelet and the current one, Sebastián Piñera, will be recorded in history.
At the height of his 35 years, Gabriel Boric presents himself as the heir of this revolution.
His coalition represents the generation of student leaders who built a state reform project on top of protests against the education system. To overcome resistance, Boric surrounded himself with a group of economists who defend with fire and iron the pragmatism of his programme, typically from the European centre-left, in the main newspapers in the country.
It is legitimate to question whether Boric’s young coalition will stand the test of power. But it is infinitely more promising than the leftist sample project that now governs Peru.
José Antonio Kast is, within the far right, different from Bolsonaro. He presented himself throughout the electoral campaign as the reasonable one among the radicals. Only moderation ends on the first page of your program.
Among other sordid points, he advocates the creation of a coalition of Latin American police officers to pursue left-wing militants. Kast, however, benefited from conjunctural dynamics, such as the mass arrival of Venezuelan migrants, unfairly accused of contributing to the increase in urban violence and of stealing Chileans’ jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the Chile of 2021 has nothing to do with the Brazil of 2018. The captivating presidential debates changed the fate of the election. The entire opposition had ample opportunity to expose candidate Kast’s nonsense and demand live television satisfaction from his program. The Chilean military, repudiated after some controversial statements last year, remained silent during the campaign.
Pressured by society, Kast began to make mistakes. His defense of dictator Augusto Pinochet in an interview with international newspapers may have cost him the lead in the first round. Bolsonaro was elected in an anesthetized democracy, besieged by the military and cyber stalkers.
If it reaches the second round, Kast will have to face a democracy disturbed by the process of renewal, but full of intensity and participation.
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