Leftist millennial wins election as Chile's next president

over 2 years in Jamaica Observer

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - A leftist millennial who rose to prominence during anti-government protests was elected Chile's next president yesterday after a bruising campaign against a free-market firebrand likened to Donald Trump.With 56 per cent of the votes, Gabriel Boric handily defeated by more than 10 points lawmaker José Antonio Kast, who tried unsuccessfully to scare voters that his young, inexperienced opponent would upend Chile's vaunted record as Latin America's most stable, advanced economy.In a model of democratic civility that broke from the polarising rhetoric of the campaign, Kast immediately recognised defeat, tweeting a photo of himself on the phone with his opponent congratulating him on his "grand triumph". He then later travelled personally to Boric's campaign headquarters to meet with his rival.Meanwhile outgoing President Sebastian Pinera - a conservative billionaire - held a video conference with Boric to offer his government's full support during the three-month transition."I am going to be the president of all Chileans," Boric said in the brief televised appearance with Pinera.In Santiago's subway, where a fare hike in 2019 triggered a wave of nationwide protests that exposed the shortcomings of Chile's free market model, young supporters of Boric, some of them waving flags emblazoned with the candidate's name, jumped and shouted in unison as they headed downtown to join thousands who gathered for the president-elect's victory speech."This is a historic day," said Boris Soto, a teacher. "We've defeated not only fascism, and the right wing, but also fear."Boric's victory is likely to be felt throughout Latin America, where ideological divisions have been on the rise amid the coronavirus pandemic, which reversed a decade of economic gains, exposed long-standing deficiencies in health care and deepened inequality that is among the worst in the world.At 35, Boric will become Chile's youngest modern president when he takes office in March and only the second millennial to lead in Latin America, after El Salvador's Nayib Bukele.He was among several activists elected to Congress in 2014 after leading protests for higher quality education. On the stump, he vowed to "bury" the neoliberal economic model left by General Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship and raise taxes on the "super rich" to expand social services, fight inequality and boost protections of the environment.Kast, who has a history of defending Chile's past military dictatorship, had finished ahead of Boric by two points in the first round of voting last month but failed to secure a majority of votes. That set up a head-to-head run-off against Boric.

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