Pinochet's legacy looms large as Chileans vote in presidential election

Gabriel Boric voting in the Chilean presidential election
(Image credit: Paul Plaza Amar/Getty Images)

Chileans cast their votes Sunday in a presidential contest between 35-year-old leftist Gabriel Boric and law-and-order conservative José Antonio Kast, Reuters reports.

Boric, who rose to prominence as a student activist, is one of a cohort of young, progressive lawmakers who won election to Congress following 2014 protests against a proposed reallocation of public education funds. His platform proposes raising the minimum wage, abolishing Chile's private pension system, and creating a state-owned lithium company.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The two candidates advanced to Sunday's runoff after claiming the top two spots in the first round of voting last month.

One of the main issues dividing voters is the economic and political system Gen. Augusto Pinochet bequeathed to the country he ruled as a dictator between 1973 and 1990. Supporters of Kast, who has spoken highly of Pinochet, argue that Chile's free-market model has led to strong economic growth and that Boric's policies would turn Chile into the next Venezuela.

"This election is Chile's last stand for freedom. Chilean voters already elected a socialist assembly to rewrite the constitution. If Kast doesn't win, I don't see how Chile will stay the most free and prosperous country of Latin America that it became since the 1980s," Venezuelan economist and anti-socialist activist Daniel Di Martino told The Week.

Boric voters, who according to The Wall Street Journal tend to be younger, claim that Chilean capitalism has produced too much inequality. Supporters of the leftist coalition have also expressed concerns about Kast's conservative positions on social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

A leftist-controlled assembly is currently drafting a new constitution for Chile to replace the one Pinochet left behind. Final polling showed a close race with Boric slightly ahead.

Explore More
Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.