Why Chile’s presidential vote came at a crazy time

The candidates are Gabriel Boric, a 35-year-old former left-wing student leader, and Jose Antonio Kast, a 55-year-old former Conservative MP. Boric, who is allied with the Communist Party of Chile, wants to get rid of the country’s market-based neo-liberal model. He proposed increasing the minimum wage, as well as corporate and property taxes, to cut the maximum work week from 45 hours to 40 hours, introduce workers’ participation on the boards of companies. company and establish a new national development bank. Kast’s plan is generally based on increasing investment incentives. He pledged to cut corporate and property taxes as well as reduce public spending. On social issues, Boric aims to make abortion free and widely available, and supports an LGBTQ rights program to end discrimination. Kast opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, and promises to crack down on illegal immigration.