Chileans to elect new president in fast-changing political landscape
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
July 02, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JULY 02, 2022
Chileans to elect new president in fast-changing political landscape

World+Biz

BSS/AFP
21 November, 2021, 11:10 am
Last modified: 21 November, 2021, 11:16 am

Related News

  • Israel heads to 1 Nov election with Lapid as caretaker PM
  • Another election puts Israel's efforts to reduce cost of living on back burner
  • Measures taken to make next national election more acceptable: PM
  • At Jan 6 Capitol riot hearing, election officials tell of harassment by Trump supporters
  • MP Bahauddin was requested, not ordered to leave Cumilla: CEC

Chileans to elect new president in fast-changing political landscape

BSS/AFP
21 November, 2021, 11:10 am
Last modified: 21 November, 2021, 11:16 am
Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP

Chileans head to the ballot box for the fourth time in 18 months Sunday, this time to elect a new president on whose watch the country will draft its first post-dictatorship constitution.

The poll comes two years after a social revolt against deep-rooted inequality, and months after elections for a body that will draft the new constitution -- a key demand of the protesters.

That ballot, in May, saw voters massively reject traditional political parties in charge since democracy replaced the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet 31 years ago. 

On Sunday, seven candidates will vie to replace the unpopular President Sebastian Pinera, covering the entire political spectrum from left to right.

The favorites are Gabriel Boric, 35, of the leftist Approve Dignity alliance which includes the Communist Party, and far right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, 55, of the Republican Party -- each with about a quarter of stated voter intention.

Both are from minority parties not in government.

Centrists, including the candidate from Pinera's party, proved the least popular in opinion polls that also revealed half of the 15 million eligible voters to be undecided.

"I'm going to vote but I am pretty disappointed," said 26-year-old Danilo Panes, who took part in the 2019 protests and feels none of the seven candidates have put forward "alternatives in line with what the people demanded" when they took to the streets.

High inequality

The demonstrators denounced low salaries and pensions, poor public health care and education, and in the words of a recent OECD report, "persistently high inequality" between rich and poor.

This situation was largely blamed on the Pinochet-era constitution, which pundits say has made the country rich through its promotion of private enterprise in all spheres, but at the expense of the poor and working classes.

Dozens of people died in weeks of protests in 2019 that marked Chile's worst social crisis in decades.

The government finally agreed to a referendum, which one year later saw about 80 percent of voters give the go-ahead for a new constitution to be drawn up by an elected body.

Voters in May elected a majority of independent candidates, mainly left-leaning, to that body, which has already started drafting the document.

Chileans will on Sunday also replace the 155-member Chamber of Deputies and almost two-thirds of Senators for a new-look Congress that will be in place when the country decides in a mandatory referendum next year whether or not to adopt the new constitution.

It is not known how, or if, a changed constitution could impact on the terms or powers of the new president.

'A difficult period'

With his second, non-consecutive term beset by economic and social upheaval, billionaire Pinera approaches the end of his mandate with record-low approval.

The country's economic woes have worsened with the coronavirus epidemic, with unemployment up, inflation at six percent and foreign debt skyrocketing as the demand for social aid and subsidies exploded.

One thing is clear: a large proportion of Chileans want a more interventionist and socially-minded government, better access to public health care and education and a change to the pension system, which is privately administered.

But analysts have also observed a recent rightward swing blamed partly on sometimes violent and arsonist actions by protesters, but also on growing concerns about immigration and crime.

Turnout in Chilean elections has been low -- usually under 50 percent -- since voting became voluntary in 2012.

To win in the first round, a candidate must garner 50 percent of the votes cast, but given the abstention trend and high levels of voter indecision, analysts believe the election will likely go to a runoff round between the top two contenders on December 19.

Polls open at 8:00 am local time (1100 GMT) Sunday, and close ten hours later.

Results are expected late Sunday.

Top News

Chile / election

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh’s maiden underwater expressway tunnel under the Karnaphuli river is expected to open to traffic this December. About 87% of work has already completed and the installation of the road surface is underway in the first tube of the tunnel. PHOTO: Courtesy
    Karnaphuli tunnel: A potential harbinger of growth
  • Condominiums: A way to spacious living
    Condominiums: A way to spacious living
  • Foreign Policy Illustration
    The 1970s weren’t what you think

MOST VIEWED

  • Members of the police patrol a street during restrictions imposed by authorities after the killing of Kanhaiya Lal Teli, a Hindu tailor, carried out by two suspected Muslim men who filmed the act and posted it online, in Udaipur in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, India, July 1, 2022. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Indian police arrest 'masterminds' behind execution of Hindu tailor -officials
  • Foreign Policy Illustration
    The 1970s weren’t what you think
  • French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron welcome Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon as they arrive at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on 1 July 2022. Photo: Reuters
    After submarine row, Macron tells Australian PM he wants to focus on future
  • Amazon rainforest
    Brazil sets new six-month Amazon deforestation record
  • Protestors supporting reproductive rights demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., May 6, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
    Texas, Ohio top courts allow abortion bans to take effect
  • Photo :Hindustan Times
    Elon Musk is 'feeling bored' and back on Twitter - with a photo of the Pope

Related News

  • Israel heads to 1 Nov election with Lapid as caretaker PM
  • Another election puts Israel's efforts to reduce cost of living on back burner
  • Measures taken to make next national election more acceptable: PM
  • At Jan 6 Capitol riot hearing, election officials tell of harassment by Trump supporters
  • MP Bahauddin was requested, not ordered to leave Cumilla: CEC

Features

The eye-catching commuter: Suzuki Gixxer SF 155

The eye-catching commuter: Suzuki Gixxer SF 155

4h | Wheels
Photo: Collected

Sapiens – A Graphic History 

1d | Book Review
Black-naped Monarch male  Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Black-naped Monarch: A sovereign who never abandoned the Indian subcontinent

1d | Panorama
The 136-year-old company on its last legs

The 136-year-old company on its last legs

1d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Dhaka University celebrating 102nd founding anniversary today

Dhaka University celebrating 102nd founding anniversary today

1d | Videos
Ctg Int'l Trade Fair returns after a 2-year hiatus without Covid restrictions

Ctg Int'l Trade Fair returns after a 2-year hiatus without Covid restrictions

1d | Videos
Bangladeshis among top 6 nationalities seeking asylum in Europe

Bangladeshis among top 6 nationalities seeking asylum in Europe

1d | Videos
RUET organises Robotronics 2.0

RUET organises Robotronics 2.0

1d | Videos

Most Read

1
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

2
Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'
Splash

Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'

3
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Motorcycles banned on Padma Bridge 

4
Photo: Collected
Economy

Tech startup ShopUp bags $65m in Series B4 funding

5
World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
Economy

World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years

6
Investor Hiru fined Tk2cr for market manipulation
Stocks

Investor Hiru fined Tk2cr for market manipulation

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
The Dazzling Fake Flowers: Is there any alternative to artificial flowers while decorating homes, showrooms, offices and business establishments? Fresh flowers are undoubtedly beautiful, but they dry out quickly. Hence, the demand for plastic flowers is rising day by day. Traders said these lifelike silk flowers usually come from China and Thailand. The photo was taken from the 29th International Trade Fair of the Chattogram Chamber on Friday. PHOTO: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net