The support of the Pd leader to the leftist candidate Boric, the number one of the Northern League responds with a video in support of the ultraconservative Kast
SAN PAOLO – There is also an all-Italian “derby”, 15,000 kilometers away from the windy shores of the Pacific Ocean, in the presidential ballot that decides the fate of Chile today. Left-wing candidate Gabriel Boric received a letter this week of support of several progressive European leaders, including the secretary of the PD Enrico Letta, who have called to stop the “ghosts of the past”. The ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast instead collected a support video from Matteo Salvini, which highlighted his fight against crime and the defense of the family. It does not move anything, but it makes us understand, once again, how much Chile is the country closest to us politically in all of South America, yesterday as today. Today’s election is the most uncertain since the return of democracy and there has been much talk of the legacy of Pinochet’s dictatorship, also thanks to the death of the widow of the hierarch Lucia Hiriart, who died on Thursday at the age of 99. More than 30 years have passed since the end of the regime, but this is still being talked about in Chile and it could not be otherwise given that this time the game is not played between moderate center-right or center-left blocks but between two candidates exactly at the antipodes.
Right and left, just like 50 years ago. A fight to the last vote that is played out, however, in a climate of general apathy. Taking into account the very high abstention (53%) Boric and Kast together collected less than 30% of the potential votes in the first round: their race to the center voter was inevitable. A month ago Kast had started off on the right foot, but then made several missteps, starting with a series of hesitations and half-betrayals in the game of alliances with conservative parties. Boric seemed to be in trouble, but he recovered well, collecting the support of the center-left forces and some luxury testimonials such as former presidents Ricardo Lagos and, in extremis, even Michelle Bachelet. The endorsement of the latter, who is now the United Nations Special Commissioner on Human Rights has caused much controversy, she was keen to clarify that she spoke as a Chilean citizen free to express her beliefs and not as an official of an international body .
Kast, on the other hand, brought home support from the Italian-Chilean Franco Parisi, third placed in the first round with his People’s Party (13% of the votes). Parisi invited his supporters first not to vote for Boric and then, after an online consultation with his base, to choose definitively for Kast. Analysts are divided; there are those who argue that Parisi’s voters will follow their leader and who instead argue that they are mavericks, difficult to influence in a ballot where their candidate is not present.
All the polls on the eve of the day give Boric slightly ahead, but the real unknown remains the 25% of undecided, too many and unpredictable. Kast found more obstacles in the way than Boric. Between the first and the second round, Parliament approved the law on egalitarian marriage, with the right also to adoptions; he, a fervent Catholic and father of nine children, is against it, but he preferred not to take sides. “When there is a law it cannot be discussed, but respected”. Same attitude on his past pinochettist. Kast has a brother who was governor of the Chilean Central Bank during the dictatorship and has repeatedly claimed responsibility for the regime, but in the last four weeks he has preferred to gloss over the issue. “The left always brings up the past, it’s time to move forward.”
An investigation by the US agency AP later revealed that his father Michael Kast, who later emigrated from Germany to Chile, joined the Nazi party in 1942, something he has always denied. It was also necessary to defend the idea of a barbed wire moat to be built in the Atacama desert to prevent immigrants from entering Chile; a divisive proposal, all too similar to Trump’s wall, certainly not popular in these parts. Finally, the insinuation of possible fraud and irregularities. “We have 45,000 seats, if we lose by a minimum difference, one vote for each seat, we will have to recount everything” Boric immediately beat him. “On the right they are so desperate that they are already putting their hands forward, speaking without evidence of fraud.”
However, the candidate of the left is not sure of victory. He has been late in dealing with central issues such as delinquency and drug trafficking, his open-minded stance on migrants makes him unpopular in the northern regions, where the emergency is most felt. He is strong in Santiago, but he struggles outside the capital, especially in the Bio Bio region, the epicenter of the conflict between the state and the Mapuche Indians. The last unknown is the so-called secret vote, potential voters of Kast, the more “protesting” candidate between the two, who prefer not to declare their vote. Anything can happen and the hypothesis of a nerve-wracking head-to-head until late at night is probable, without excluding, in the case of a really small difference, the aftermath of appeals and new post ballot counts.
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