Chile: New poll confirms rise of far-right José Antonio Kast to second place

The young leftist candidate Gabriel Boric remains the favorite to win the presidential elections on November 21 in Chile with 26% support, while in second place the far-right José Antonio Kast rebounds, according to a survey by the research company Criteria released this Thursday.

Presidential preferences “continue to show Gabriel Boric consolidated in the first place with 26% ”, indicated the Criteria study, confirming the favoritism of this 35-year-old deputy who represents the conglomerate Approve Dignity, made up of the Broad Front and the Communist Party.

Boric, considered the youngest presidential candidate in the history of ChileLikewise, it led previous surveys such as the last one by market researcher CADEM, in which it obtained 22%, while in Pulso Ciudadano it reached 19.8% of the preferences.

In second place the candidate of the far-right Republican Party, José Antonio Kast, who has 17%, relegating Sebastián Sichel to third place, candidate of the ruling center-right (15%), according to the Criteria study.

Sichel, a lawyer and former Minister of Social Development to the president Sebastian Piñera, fell at least four points in relation to the previous Criteria survey, after it admitted having made a withdrawal of 10% of the pension funds, a measure that it had rejected due to the damages that they entail for the retirement system and the economy of the country.

He had even threatened not to support the reelection of right-wing parliamentarians who would support a fourth withdrawal in Congress, where another three have already been approved in response to the economic crisis derived from the pandemic.

In the November 21 elections, to which 15 million Chileans are summoned, the Congress and the 16 regional councils will also be renewed.

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