Boric (left) and Kast. Photo: Portal Cenital

By Guillermo Alvarado 

The presidential elections held in Chile the day before confirmed the sad forecast of the growth of a very aggressive extreme right wing that achieved a good vote and rose ahead of the traditional coalitions, which until now dominated the political spectrum in that country.

José Antonio Kast, founder of the Republican Party and member of the reactionary Social Christian Pact, passed to the final round of December 19, together with Gabriel Boric, a young politician supported by the coalition Apruebo Dignidad, in which the Communist Party is included.

The difference between the two is small, less than two points in favor of Kast, although in the second round the alliances that may be established will determine the character of the new government.

A surprise of the day was the rise of Franco Parisi, founder of the People's Party, who obtained almost 13 percent of the votes despite the fact that during the entire electoral campaign he never set foot in Chilean territory.

Parisi lives in the United States, where he traveled to evade several judicial processes, among them one for alleged corruption and another due to his refusal to pay alimony for his children.

Although he cannot be pigeonholed in the extreme right, he does have several friends in that field and there is no doubt that in the runoff he will offer his support to Kast.

He has already warned that he will maintain the same behavior as Sebastián Sichel, who was the standard bearer of the governmental coalition Chile Podemos Más, which on this occasion was left out of the competition for the Palacio de La Moneda.

As can be seen, a process of unity among the most retrograde forces of the South American country is already in gestation, which means a threat that in no way can be taken lightly.

Things are not going as fast with respect to Boric, who must negotiate with intelligence. Already the Christian Democracy, a traditional force in Chile, has said that it will not call to vote for Kast, but neither will it "give a blank check", a clear message that it expects to get commitments to offer its hand.

In reality, the main opportunity for Apruebo Dignidad to win the presidency of Chile is to convince young people, particularly those who participated in the protests of 2011 and 2019 and did not go out to vote yesterday.

It is they, and those still undecided, who can provide the main flow of suffrages and avoid the tragedy of the extreme right taking over the government.

There are other elements about the immediate Chilean future, friends, which I will address in future works.