Chilean election: A step to the right?

The first round of the presidential elections in Chile came in line with recent polls, with the two hard left and hard right candidates going to the final round on December 19th. The right-wing candidate, Jose Kast, who had been surging in the polls recently, received 28% of the vote versus 26% for Gabriel Boric, the leftist candidate. Two things are interesting from this outcome. First, the centrist left and centrist right candidates did poorly, implying hardened polarization of the population. Second, the rightist, more market-friendly Mr. Kast is now considered the frontrunner to win the election, which would reverse a populist shift in Chile in recent years. Has the pandemic experience shifted people’s political attitudes towards a more conservative stance and is Latin America’s leftward lurch now potentially stalled? If Mr. Kast does end up winning, it would be an interesting change of momentum in the region, where populists have taken control in Peru, Argentina and Mexico, and have their sights set on the biggest prize, Brazil.