Chile has chosen its new president. Left-wing candidate Gabriel Boric won the presidential election on Sunday, December 19, with 56% of the vote against his far-right rival, José Antonio Kast. At 35, Gabriel Boric becomes the youngest president in the country’s history. Above all, he embodies the return of a more radical left after thirty years of alternation between the historic center-left and center-right parties. Franceinfo paints the portrait of this politician who promises social renewal in a bloodless Chile.
1He started out as a student unionist
Originally from Punta Arenas, at the southern tip of Chile, Gabriel Boric became involved in politics while studying law in Santiago, the capital. He cut his teeth as an elected student and member of the radical left movement Izquierda Autónoma (“Autonomous Left”, in French). Gabriel Boric actively participates in the student mobilization of May 2011 to demand free university for all. His commitment will take him to the head of the Federation of Students of Chile (Fech), a breeding ground for future elected politicians.
At the end of 2013, when he was only 27 years old, Gabriel Boric was elected deputy without a label in his region of origin. He devotes his mandate to the defense of human rights, the fight against conflicts of interest and the reduction of parliamentary allowances. He was re-elected deputy in 2017, this time in a district of the metropolis of Santiago.
2He campaigned to rewrite the Chilean Constitution
At the end of 2019, while Chile is set ablaze because of the cost of living, Gabriel Boric is the architect of a long-demanded project: the rewriting of the Chilean Constitution, a legacy of the bloody dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. (1973-1990).
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To do this, he signed agreements in principle with his opponents, parliamentarians from the center left and even from the right, which led to the organization of a referendum a year later. On October 25, 2020, the Chileans voted by a large majority (78.28%) for the drafting of a new fundamental law. The text is currently the subject of fierce debate and must be submitted to a new referendum at the end of 2022.
3His candidacy was supported by a broad left-wing coalition
Coming from the radical left, Gabriel Boric was able to count on the adhesion of former rivals during an eventful electoral campaign. His victory in the left primary on July 18, 2021, created a surprise, because Boric finished far ahead of the communist Daniel Jadue, given favorite. “Do not be afraid of the youth to change this country”, he then declares. At the end of this primary, he officially presented himself under the banner of the Apruebo Dignidad coalition (“I approve the dignity” in French), a very large gathering of left parties and movements.
Row behind the 30-year-old candidate, we find the former student leaders of the Democratic Revolution, the left both libertarian and Christian, but also the Chilean Communist Party, the ecologists of the Green and Social Regionalist Federation (Frevs) or even central figures. left, like former president Michelle Bachelet. A coalition, to say the least, heterogeneous but united in the face of the rise of the far right in the country, which came first in the first round of the ballot.
4Its program is above all social democratic
Gabriel Boric promised the Chileans a series of social reforms: the creation of a universal health system as well as the establishment of a public pension scheme, to replace the current system of private capitalization. To finance these future public services, Gabriel Boric intends to increase taxes on large fortunes. A strong measure in a country among the most unequal in the world, according to theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (PDF in English).
After his victory on Sunday, Gabriel Boric assured that he would defend these new social rights, while remaining “fiscally responsible”, thus responding to concerns about the increase in public spending.
In addition to the development of a welfare state, Gabriel Boric defends societal reforms, in connection with the very lively feminist struggles in Chile, and the marriage of homosexual couples, which will be authorized in the country from March 10, 2022. The same month, the 30-year-old will officially take office, succeeding 72-year-old billionaire Sebastian Piñera.