- Title: Left-right divide grips Chile's voters ahead of presidential vote
- Date: 14th December 2021
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) 61-YEAR-OLD VOTER, NORA ABURTO, SAYING: "What I expect from the next president of Chile is that he tries as much as possible... what interests me the most is crime and obviously if health can be fixed as well. Because we can't really ask for everything, so I would at least like crime to go down." PEOPLE WALKING IN THE STREETS
- Embargoed: 28th December 2021 15:40
- Keywords: Chile Gabriel Boric Jose Antonio Kast Sebastian Pinera elections
- Location: SANTIAGO & IQUIQUE, CHILE
- City: SANTIAGO & IQUIQUE, CHILE
- Country: Chile
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA005F80FDXJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Chileans will choose their next president on Sunday (December 19) amid a polarisation of voters divided between the left and right.
Chile's presidential election race is tightening ahead of a polarized runoff on Sunday, with ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Kast narrowing the gap to leftist former student leader Gabriel Boric as the two compete for key middle ground votes.
The vote has divided Chileans between a revitalized progressive left, which has gained strongly since widespread social protests in 2019, and a counter movement on the far right that has rallied around Kast's tough law and order message.
According to the director of the school of Government of Chile's Central University, Marco Moreno, the main concern is not who the president will be but who will be able to govern in the complex Chilean context.
"In this scenario of uncertainty where governance is going to be threatened because we are going to have economic problems, the constitution will not be ready. Therefore, there won't be clear rules of the game and there will be many political demands resulting from the choice itself," said Moreno.
Boric and Kast offer wildly different visions for the future of the Andean nation, the world's top producer of copper and long seen as a bastion of stability in the region that is plagued by political upheaval and economic volatility.
(Production: Rodrigo Gutierrez, Carolina Fernandez, Nina Lopez, Andrea Rodriguez) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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