Chile Votes for a New President, but With Little Enthusiasm
19, 2017
SANTIAGO — Chileans cast ballots on Sunday to elect a successor to President Michelle Bachelet, choosing from among an ideologically diverse
array of eight candidates, including former President Sebastián Piñera, who was leading in the latest vote count by at least 10 points.
Voter turnout Sunday morning appeared very heavy in parts of Santiago, the capital,
but analysts said they expected high abstention levels, in keeping with a consistent fall in electoral participation since the return to democracy in Chile in 1990 after 17 years of military dictatorship.
"People want a major transformation of the political system
and corrupt politicians put in jail, and maybe then they will get out and vote." On Sunday morning, a group of demonstrators forced their way into Mr. Piñera’s campaign center to protest the elections.
that We’ve been living in a democracy full of constraints, with the same politicians in government and Congress for too many years,
Marta Lagos, director of the polling group Latinobarómetro, said low voter turnout could be explained in large part by a general view
that politicians are corrupt and public institutions are not to be trusted, she said.
Coming in a close third may be another journalist with no political experience who became well known for her acid political critiques on radio
and television, Beatriz Sánchez, 46, representing the leftist coalition Frente Amplio.
Mr. Piñera is flanked to the right by José Antonio Kast, an ultrarightist who proposes actions like building a physical barrier along Chile’s northern border with Peru
and Bolivia, withdrawing from international treaties and organizations, and abolishing a recently approved law permitting abortions in some cases.
19, 2017
SANTIAGO — Chileans cast ballots on Sunday to elect a successor to President Michelle Bachelet, choosing from among an ideologically diverse
array of eight candidates, including former President Sebastián Piñera, who was leading in the latest vote count by at least 10 points.
Voter turnout Sunday morning appeared very heavy in parts of Santiago, the capital,
but analysts said they expected high abstention levels, in keeping with a consistent fall in electoral participation since the return to democracy in Chile in 1990 after 17 years of military dictatorship.
"People want a major transformation of the political system
and corrupt politicians put in jail, and maybe then they will get out and vote." On Sunday morning, a group of demonstrators forced their way into Mr. Piñera’s campaign center to protest the elections.
that We’ve been living in a democracy full of constraints, with the same politicians in government and Congress for too many years,
Marta Lagos, director of the polling group Latinobarómetro, said low voter turnout could be explained in large part by a general view
that politicians are corrupt and public institutions are not to be trusted, she said.
Coming in a close third may be another journalist with no political experience who became well known for her acid political critiques on radio
and television, Beatriz Sánchez, 46, representing the leftist coalition Frente Amplio.
Mr. Piñera is flanked to the right by José Antonio Kast, an ultrarightist who proposes actions like building a physical barrier along Chile’s northern border with Peru
and Bolivia, withdrawing from international treaties and organizations, and abolishing a recently approved law permitting abortions in some cases.
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