The sweeping victory of Gabriel Boric , the 35-year-old left-wing leader, in Sunday’s presidential run-off election , is a testimony to how Chile has changed. One of the bastions of free market orthodoxy in Latin America, Chile has been rocked by anti-inequality protests for more than two years. Mr. Boric, one of the protest leaders who promised to “bury neoliberalism” during his campaign, built an alliance of social democrats and communists that took on the Republican Party’s José Antonio Kast. While Mr. Boric promised to build a more equitable society in one of the most unequal countries, Mr. Kast, a defender of the military regime, positioned himself as a candidate of the economic status quo and blamed migrants, terrorists and narco-traffickers for Chile’s agonies. The pollsters had predicted a narrow lead for Mr. Boric, but his 12-point triumph over Mr. Kast by securing about 56% of the votes marks the strongest political comeback of the Chilean left, which had undergone systemic persecution during the U.S.-backed military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Gen. Pinochet, who toppled the socialist President, Salvador Allende, in 1973, laid the foundations of Chile’s neoliberal state. His regime fell in 1990, but the state apparatus he built survived, including the Constitution. Now, when an elected Constituent Assembly is writing a new Constitution for Chile, bringing an end to Pinochet’s influence, the country will have the most left-wing President since Allende.
Mr. Boric has promised to fight the “privilege of the few” and tackle poverty and inequality. He has opposed big-ticket mining projects as part of his climate protection plan. He wants to raise taxes by 8% of GDP, abolish the unpopular private pension funds, shorten the working week to 40 hours, raise the minimum wage and create a universal health-care system. These promises were the crux of the progressive electoral platform he built. Mr. Boric, who would be sworn in on March 11, 2022, faces the daunting challenge of walking the talk. His legislation agenda would be met with strong opposition in Parliament: the Senate is evenly split between the right and the left, and in the 155-member Chamber of Deputies, his coalition has only 37 MPs. Sagging growth and high inflation would limit the new government’s spending agenda. If he goes ahead with the plan to raise taxes on the corporations, abolish private pensions and waive off student debt, the private capital and the old political establishment would revolt, like what happened in the other left-ruled states in Latin America. Mr. Boric’s victory has put wind in the sails of Chile’s left-wing politics, but he should be ready for a storm as he seeks to take on the Pinochet consensus.
