It is one of the youngest presidents in its history that Chile gave itself on Sunday by opening the doors of the presidential palace, La Moneda, to the candidate of the left, Gabriel Boric, a strong figure in the student revolt of 2011 and of the social protest movements that it gave birth to in the following years.
At 35, the new Chilean head of state is preparing to open a new era in this South American country with the promise to bury the heavy legacy of the Pinochet years, through the establishment, among other things, of reforms colossal social and constitutional policies aimed at reducing inequalities and placing Chile on a new, more progressive and inclusive trajectory.
“Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its tomb,” he said last July, winning the primary of the Apruebo Dignidad (I approve the dignity) coalition that he has just brought to the to be able to.
But his welfare state project, based on an ambitious program, risks running up against still major ideological divisions, a Parliament in which it does not have a majority, an unfavorable economic context, and this, in a difficult environment. countries where more than two years after the 2019 protests, expectations of a change of course are very high.
“President Boric must understand that we cannot wait any longer for the substantial improvement in the pension system, the health system and education,” summarized Monday in the pages of the Chilean daily. La Tercera, political columnist Paula Escobar. But the challenge before him is enormous. He will have to manage all this in complex and lean years, consequence of the pandemic […] and in a climate polarized by social networks, destroyed by disinformation and where citizens oscillate between fatigue and hope. “
With a lead of one million votes, Gabriel Boric won the second round of the presidential election in front of the far-right populist candidate José Antonio Kast, emulator of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, whose ultraliberal program exhibited nostalgic overtones of the Pinochet’s dictatorial regime.
More than 55% of the voters chose the program of the left with its tax reforms aiming to put the rich of the country to contribute to finance a universal social safety net, with its promises of transformations of the pension system, currently private, but also of increase accessibility to health and education systems, where social disparities are still glaring.
This victory comes as no surprise more than a year after the October 2020 referendum, a consequence of the 2019 protests, where nearly 80% of voters called for a change in the country’s Constitution.
“The revolution in Chile began long before this presidential election,” says political scientist Ricardo Peñafiel, professor at UQAM and keen observer of the Chilean political and social scene for several years. Gabriel Boric is a bit of the heir to these popular protest movements. He also promised “a government with its feet in the street”. His horizon is radical, yes, but he proposes, in order to reach it, to take it one step at a time, and this is what could allow him to succeed. “Small steps, but” small firm steps “, as he said during the last days of the campaign.
A complex environment
The new president, who joins the very “select” club of the youngest state leaders in the world, will take the reins of the country on March 11, while inheriting an economy weakened by the last two years of the pandemic. Growth prospects in Chile are limited for 2021 (1.5-2.5%) after a rebound in 2021 artificially supported by US $ 3 billion in government subsidies and large individual withdrawals of US $ 50 billion in pension funds private.
To counter inflation, the Chilean Central Bank also plans to raise its key rate, which could reach 6% next year, or double its target range.
On Monday, the financial markets also greeted the results of the polls with fear. The Santiago Stock Exchange slumped 6.83% at the opening, after it had risen by more than 9% on the news of the victory of the right-wing candidate, José Antonio Kast, in the first round of the ballot , End of november. The peso also recorded its lowest level against the US dollar since March 18, 2020, the start of the ongoing global health crisis.
Parliament’s collaboration in the reforms of the new president is also subject to great uncertainty, given the great diversity that is represented there, and that Gabriel Boric will have to federate around his program. “Between the two rounds, he made alliances with everyone to get elected,” said Ricardo Peñafiel in an interview with the Duty, and these alliances will have to be reflected in the constitution of his first government. “
Called a “communist” by his detractors, Mr. Boric tried to reassure his intentions on Sunday evening in his victory speech in which he reiterated his promise for “more social rights” while remaining, he said. added, “fiscally responsible”.
Call for dialogue
The possibilities of structural transformations of the country by the candidate of the left depend, however, on his capacity to carry out, beforehand, the constitutional reform of Chile, in a divided political context, but also on his ability to bring together the different political forces in presence.
“If we analyze Boric’s journey [arrivé au sommet de l’État après deux mandats de députés depuis 2013], we see that he is a person who, at key moments, was able to bet on dialogue, unlike José Antonio Kast, summarizes the Chilean political scientist Cristóbal Rovira, quoted by La Tercera. He knows that in order to govern and carry out reforms, it is necessary to establish large majorities. “
The day after his victory, however, Gabriel Boric began by shaking up protocol by giving a handshake to the guards at the entrance of the presidential palace where he went to visit the outgoing center-right president, Sebastian Piñera, on Monday, as the wants tradition. The young elected attended it without a tie, a gesture underlined in a society which is gradually extricating itself from its conservative postures.
In the morning, he also received congratulations from the president of the Constituent Convention, Elisa Loncon, who was delighted to see the new president elected “to be part of this historic process of drafting the new Constitution”.
With Agence France-Presse