Chile elects the next president of the nation this Sunday
Havana, November 21 (RHC)-- Some 15 million Chileans are called to the polls this Sunday to elect the next president, in elections considered crucial because they will be held in the midst of the process towards a new Constitution.
Seven candidates from a wide political spectrum aspire to replace Sebastián Piñera in the presidential chair for the 2022-2026 period, but opinion polls predict that none of them will obtain 50 plus one of the votes in the first round.
The polling firms, highly criticized in that country for being wrong in their predictions, focus the dispute between the aspirant of the leftist coalition Apruebo Dignidad, Gabriel Boric, and the one of the Alianza Social Cristiana, the far-right José Antonio Kast.
For the political analyst Pablo Jofre, although Boric and Kast are still the most likely to be mentioned, there may be a surprise with Yasna Provoste, heir of the Concertación and the Nueva Mayoría, or Sebastián Sichel, of the pro-government alliance Chile Podemos Más.
Also competing in the presidential race are Marco Enríquez-Ominami, from the Progressive Party; Eduardo Artés, from the Patriotic Union, and the economist Franco Parisi, from the People's Party.
In addition to electing the president, Chileans will choose 155 deputies, 27 senators and regional councilors.
"This is a rather suigeneris election because there is no definition of what is going to happen in the legislatures. It will probably result in a quite fragmented parliament, which will imply alliances and agreements, whether we want it or not", said Jofre to Prensa Latina news agency.
One of the unknowns of the day will be abstentionism, a phenomenon on the rise since voting ceased to be mandatory in 2012, to the point that Piñera was elected with less than half of the votes and in the last regional elections for governors barely 20 percent turned out.
It is possible that participation will increase this Sunday, if the forecasts of a measurement made by the National Youth Institute are fulfilled, according to which 77 percent of young people expressed their willingness to vote.
