2021 Chilean general election

General elections were held in Chile on 21 November 2021, including presidential, parliamentary and regional elections. Voters went to the polls to elect a president to serve a four-year term, 27 of 50 members of the Senate to serve an eight-year term, all 155 members of the Chamber of Deputies to serve a four-year term and all 302 members of the regional boards to serve a three-year term. Following an electoral reform in 2015, the Senate increased its membership from 38 to 43 in 2017 and grew to its full size of 50 seats after this election.
Despite narrowly trailing conservative candidate José Antonio Kast in the first round of the presidential election, leftist candidate Gabriel Boric emerged as the winner of the second round with 56% of the vote, a larger margin than predicted by opinion polls. Kast conceded defeat shortly after voting ended. At the age of 35, Boric became the youngest president ever elected in Chile and also set a record for receiving the highest number of votes in Chilean history. The turnout in the second round increased to 56%, the highest since voting became voluntary in Chile in 2013.
In the parliamentary elections the center-right coalition Chile Podemos Más remained the largest bloc in both chambers and increased their number of senators, despite seeing their vote share fall by more than 10 percentage points compared to the previous election. On the left, the new coalition Apruebo Dignidad saw gains at the expense of the center-left New Social Pact (NPS), becoming the second largest bloc in the Chamber of Deputies. However, NPS won more seats in the Senate. New parties, including the far-right Republican Party and the populist Party of the People, also gained several seats. Consequently, the newly elected Congress was split evenly between the combined left and right, with the non-aligned congresspeople holding the balance of power.
On 11 March 2022 all the newly elected authorities, including president-elect Boric, took office.
The 2021 Chilean election cycle was notable for its polarization, representing a departure from the country's political normality. Against the backdrop of the 2019 protests, the writing of a new constitution, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the dominant center-left and center-right coalitions that had ruled the country since the end of the military dictatorship experienced a significant drop in support in the elections for mayors, governors, and members of the Constitutional Convention held on May 15 and 16.
In the subsequent presidential election, candidates from the traditional centrist coalitions finished in fourth and fifth place, while two candidates from newly formed parties and coalitions, Kast and Boric, qualified for the second round. This represented a departure from the country's political history, which had repeatedly seen power bounce between center-right and center-left parties with little structural movement between presidents.
The desire for change among voters led them to reject the traditional political parties and support candidates from new parties. Kast of the far-right Republican Party ran a campaign on populist and Christian conservative values, emphasizing "law and order" and drawing comparisons with former US president Donald Trump and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. In contrast, Boric, a member of the left-wing Apruebo Dignidad coalition, campaigned on a progressive message reflecting the ideas behind the 2019 protests. He advocated for broadening the social safety net, higher taxes on the wealthy, combating climate change, social justice, and change to the current privatized pension system. Boric also supported the ongoing writing of a new Chilean constitution, while Kast repeatedly said he would interfere to stop its ratification if elected.
The President is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round will be held.
The 50 members of the Senate are elected for eight-year terms, with around half of the Senators renewed at each general election. Senators are elected from 16 multi-member constituencies of between two and five seats based on the regions. Seats are filled by party list proportional representation. Each voter votes for one party list or list of a coalition. Seats are allocated by the d'Hondt method.The 2021 elections saw 27 members elected, representing the regions of Antofagasta, Biobío, Coquimbo, O'Higgins, Los Lagos, Los Ríos, Magallanes and Santiago Metropolitan Region. (Vacancies of seats arising between general elections are filled by a person selected by the same party.)
In the National Congress, the 155 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected from 28 multi-member constituencies with between three and eight seats by party list proportional representation. Each voter votes for one party list or list of a coalition. Seats are allocated by the d'Hondt method. (Vacancies of seats arising between general elections are filled by a person selected by the same party.)
Below is the list of candidacies for president accepted by the Electoral Service on 27 August 2021. Boric's and Sichel's candidacies were automatically accepted after they were proclaimed the winner of their respective primaries by the Election Court.
The Apruebo Dignidad coalition decided its presidential candidate in the publicly-funded primaries held nationwide on 18 July 2021, won by lawmaker Gabriel Boric with 60% of the vote.
On 17 March 2021, Boric's party, Social Convergence, proclaimed him as its presidential candidate. The Commons Party's leadership also announced on 17 March 2021 that it would propose Boric as its presidential candidate in a meeting of the party's leadership the following Saturday. On 23 March 2021, Democratic Revolution, the coalition's largest party, proclaimed Boric as its presidential candidate. On 29 May 2021, the Common Force movement gave its support to Boric, after he beat Marcelo Díaz in a plebiscite held on May 27–28. On 17 August 2021, the Acción Humanista movement proclaimed him as its candidate.
The Chile Podemos Más center-right coalition (previously Chile Vamos) participated in the publicly-funded primaries held nationwide on 18 July 2021. Former minister Sebastián Sichel beat the other three candidates by 49% of the vote.
Sichel was minister of Social Development and president of BancoEstado during the second administration of President Sebastián Piñera. He participated as an independent candidate in the Chile Podemos Más primary, supported by former PDC supporters and other centrist political movements.
Christian Democrat Senator Yasna Provoste won the primary election held by the New Social Pact center-left coalition (formerly Constituent Unity) on August 21, 2021, with over 60% of the vote and a turnout of around 150,000. On May 30, 2021, Provoste had expressed her willingness to compete if her party deemed it necessary. She officially launched her candidacy on July 23, 2021, during a ceremony in her hometown of Vallenar, in northern Chile. On August 17, 2021, the Christian Democratic Party proclaimed her as their candidate.
The other primary candidates, Paula Narváez and Carlos Maldonado, urged the need for a primary to determine a single candidate after the coalition failed to come to an agreement to participate in the national publicly-funded primaries held on July 18, 2021.
In May 2021, José Antonio Kast dismissed the idea of holding a presidential primary with Chile Vamos. On August 6, 2021, the Christian Conservative Party, along with the Republican Party and other independents, registered the Christian Social Front pact with the Electoral Service for the parliamentary elections in November. Kast officially registered his candidacy before the Electoral Service on 19 August 2021.
After the first round, candidates Sichel and Parisi endorsed Kast.
Boric was endorsed by Enríquez-Ominami and Provoste. Former President Michelle Bachelet returned to Chile from her role as UN Human Rights High Commissioner to formally endorse Boric.
On 9 December, parliamentarians and public figures from over 15 countries signed a statement endorsing Boric.
On the day of the second round on 19 December, voters at bus stops in rural parts of the country, and large municipalities in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, such as Puente Alto, San Bernardo, and Maipú, waited hours for public bus services in the blazing sun to reach their polling stations, due to a shortage of public bus services available on that day.
Soon after these reports came in, local authorities and citizens in these municipalities took to social media to show Red Metropolitana de Movilidad bus terminals and parking decks full of unused city buses. This led to speculation that the incumbent government was suppressing voters by reducing bus services to prevent them from casting their votes. Apparently, most complaints of delays came from neighborhoods where Gabriel Boric had stronger levels of support.
Leading figures from Boric's campaign, such as Izkia Siches cried foul, accusing the government of trying to help Kast win the election. Boric said "the government has a responsibility" to solve the problem to allow voters to be ferried to vote with the unused buses. The elections authority Servel expressed similar concerns to Transport Minister Gloria Hutt.
The government spokesman Jaime Bellolio called the Boric campaign's claim as a "blatant lie", and denied that the government was suppressing voters, claiming that there were between 5,000 and 6,000 buses running in the Metropolitan Region. However, this was contradicted by transport authorities, which stated that only 3,000 buses were operating. The transport authority however, also stressed that the number of buses was 55 percent more than a usual Sunday and between 3 percent or 4 percent greater than on the first round of election in November.
A Transantiago bus driver claimed that only 40 percent of the bus drivers available were driving that day, despite statements from the government that they were operating buses on a normal work schedule. As a result, carpools were organized through social media, while private services like Uber and Cabify offered ride discounts for voters to travel to polling stations.
In the evening, just before polls closed, Transport Minister Gloria Hutt apologized, acknowledging the government was slow to react to the situation and blamed the delays on road work and traffic, but denied that the government was engaging in voter suppression.
Turnout for the second round rose by 1.2 million from the first round, and from 47.3% in the first round to 55.6%, the highest level for any Chilean election since voting ceased to be compulsory in 2012.
Gabriel Boric won the election with 55.9% of the vote and is set to become the youngest president in Chile's history and youngest state leader in the world.
A post-election survey showed that despite their endorsement of Kast, 59% of Parisi's voters and 23% of Sichel's voters voted for Boric, while 82% of Yasna Provoste's supporters, 83% of Marco Enríquez-Ominami's supporters, and 92% of Eduardo Artés's supporters voted for Boric.
On 19 December 2021, shortly after the preliminary results of the second round were publicized, Kast conceded defeat and congratulated Boric through a tweet saying "I have just talked to Gabriel Boric and have congratulated him for his big triumph. From now on he is the president-elect of Chile and deserves all of our respect and constructive collaboration. Chile is always first". Later that day, Kast visited Boric at the latter's campaign headquarters in central Santiago. Boric thanked Kast during his victory speech, saying "we must build bridges for our compatriots to live better, because that is the people of Chile's demand".
Outgoing president Sebastián Piñera had a video call with president-elect Boric, which was broadcast live on TV and radio, complying with one of the country's electoral traditions since the transition to democracy. During their conversation, Piñera congratulated Boric and said "when we divide [our country] in wars between ourselves, things always go wrong. We all hope you make a very good government for Chile and the Chileans and I am sure you will do your best". Boric said "I am going to be the President of all Chileans, because I believe it is important to interpret everyone and agreements should be between all of the people and not inside four walls".
Boric was also congratulated by President of the Constitutional Convention, Elisa Loncón. The leader of Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco, Héctor Llaitul, dismissed Boric as being together with Kast "two faces of the same coin" and warned that Boric will maintain "the colonial-format capitalist system". Llaitul pledged to continue "the path of revolutionary autonomism".
Among international leaders who congratulated Boric are President of Argentina Alberto Fernández, Vice President Cristina Kirchner, President of Bolivia Luis Arce, President of the Chamber of Senators of Bolivia Andrónico Rodríguez, former President of Brazil Lula da Silva, President of Colombia Iván Duque, President of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado, President of Ecuador Guillermo Lasso, Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Yves Le Drian, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, President of Peru Pedro Castillo, President of Uruguay Luis Lacalle Pou, President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, and opposition leaders of Venezuela Juan Guaidó and Henrique Capriles. The European Union, via its High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, also congratulated Boric on his victory in the second round and pointed to "strengthening" relations with the Chilean government.
President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro had a late and cold reaction to Boric's election. He pointed out that "half of the population abstained" in the election, and referred to Boric as "that Boric". Boric responded to Bolsonaro's comments by stating that "clearly we are very different". Bolsonaro's son Eduardo, who had supported Kast, had a harsher reaction, stating that Chile was set on a path similar to Maduro's Venezuela with Boric. He mentioned the –8% drop that occurred in the Santiago Stock Exchange following the election and linked Boric to the violence that erupted in Chile in 2019.
President of the United States Joe Biden had a phone conversation with president-elect Boric on 30 December, on which Biden congratulated Boric for his victory. In a press statement published by the White House, Biden "applauded Chile's free and fair elections as a powerful example to the region and the world", and also underscored the cooperation between Chile and the U.S. to "promote a green and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to address the existential threat posed by climate change". Biden also sent through the president-elect his condolences for the death of 14-year old Valentina Orellana-Peralta, who was killed in a police shootout at Los Angeles, California on 23 December. Boric later posted on his Twitter account about the conversation he had with President Biden, stating that "In addition to the shared joy for our respective electoral victories, we talked about common challenges such as fair trade, climate crisis and strengthening democracy. We will continue to talk."
Due to the low results in the parliamentary election, 12 political parties were dissolved by the Electoral Service: Christian Conservative Party (1 deputy), Citizens (1), Democratic Independent Regionalist Party (1), Equality Party, Green Ecological Party (2), Humanist Party (3), Progressive Party, National Citizen Party, New Time, Patriotic Union, Revolutionary Workers Party and United Centre (1). 9 deputies became independent politicians before joining the new Congress.