Chilean far-left presidential hopeful Gabriel Boric from the coalition between the Broad Front and the Communist Party would easily beat his far-right opponent José Antonio Kast in the Dec. 19 presidential runoff by 53.9% of the votes against 31.2%, according to a Pulso Ciudadano survey released Sunday.
Chilean political analyst Manuel Rodríguez Uribe estimates that the presidential runoff will be a different election to last Sunday's, under a different context but in a much more polarized environment, with conservative candidate Jose Antonio Kast holding better political support than his left-wing contender Gabriel Boric, currently a member of congress' Lower House in the representation of the extreme south region of Magallanes.
Although long queues at voting places and the delay suffered by many voters gave the impression that last Sunday's election in Chile had triggered a massive attendance, later in the day the Electoral Service figures showed exactly the contrary, just over 7 million Chileans bothered to go and vote for the next Chilean president.
Emilia Schneider Sunday became Chile's first-ever transgender person elected to the national Congress. At age 25, she admitted the LGTBI community was afraid of what may happen if far-right candidate José Antonio Kast wins Dec. 19's presidential runoff.
Argentina's Ambassador in Santiago, Rafael Bielsa, said right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast, who finished first in Sunday's elections was an anti-Argentine Pinochetist “that dares speak its name” and likened him to former US President Donald Trump and current Brazilian head of state Jair Bolsonaro.
Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast took most of the criticism Monday evening during the last TV debate featuring five of the six presidential candidates to take part in next Sunday's elections.
On Friday public opinion pollster Cadem released its latest survey of vote intention for the highly contested Chilean November 14 presidential election with conservative candidate Jose Antonio Kast leading with 25% followed by a young radical, with no government experience, Gabriel Boric, with 19%, who is also under quarantine for having tested positive to coronavirus.
The Chilean Senate is debating a bill whether to make voting in national elections mandatory, a highly controversial issue since lawmakers of the ruling coalition are against the initiative while the opposition insists in approving it to increase the participation percentage.