Gabriel Boric Wins an Historic Victory in Chile’s Presidential Runoff Election

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On December 19, 2021, Gabriel Boric, a left-wing legislator and former student activist who gained notoriety during anti-government protests, won the runoff election for president in Chile. With over 99% of the vote counted, Boric won 56% percent, defeating his extreme-right opponent, José Antonio Kast (a fundamentalist Catholic and son of a German officer who took refuge in Chile after the defeat of Nazism), who received 44%. At 35, Boric will be Chile’s youngest-ever head of state. His victory belied the results of the November 21, 2021, general election in which Kast took the lead with 1,961,122 votes, representing 27.91% of those who turned out to vote, against the 1,814,809 votes in favor of Boric, or 25.23%. Boric apparently won with the support of young people and women, especially from the lower socioeconomic sectors, along with many voters who had backed third-place candidate Franco Parisi, ignoring his last-minute call for them to support Kast. Commentators from around the region offered interpretations and assessments of what the arrival of this young, new occupant to La Moneda, Chile’s presidential palace, could mean.

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