Chile elects its youngest ever president as left-winger Gabriel Boric beats far-right rival

The 35-year-old will take office in March

Gabrial Boric has won Chile’s presidential elections and the 35-year-old millenial will become the youngest-ever president of the country.

A former student leader, he beat far-right rival, Antonio Kast, by more than 10 points, local media reported. Mr Boric won with 56 per cent of the votes, while Mr Kast polled 44 per cent.

The left-winger has promised to work for equality in the country and pledged to make women and indigenous communities his priority besides raising taxes for the rich and helping protect the environment.

Right-wing candidate Antonio Kast, a strong supporter of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, ran on a platform which suggested slowing down the inflow of migrants by digging ditches along the country’s border.

On Sunday, Mr Kast conceded the race and said that the winner deserves “respect and constructive collaboration”.

In his victory speech to thousands of young supporters in downtown Santiago, Mr Boric said in the indigenous Mapuche language: “We are a generation that emerged in public life demanding our rights be respected as rights and not treated like consumer goods or a business.”

The president-elect added that “we no longer will permit that the poor keep paying the price of Chile’s inequality”.

Jubilant supporters took to Chilean streets. Mr Boric told the jubilant crowd: “Today hope trumps fear.”

One supporter, Andres Rodriques, was quoted as saying by Reuters: “I am very excited because this is an achievement of the people. There have been many years of abuse and we need a renovation within politics. I have a lot of faith and hope in the youth.”

Another, Patricia Alarcon said: “I always had faith in Boric because I think our country deserved this — we deserved freedom, integration — we deserved this result.”

“This is a historic day,” a Chilean teacher Boris Soto told Associated Press. “We’ve defeated not only fascism, and the right-wing, but also fear.”

Mr Kast, a 55-year-old — who is a devout Roman Catholic and father of nine — had advocated for restrictive abortion laws in the country and also attacked the LGBTQ+ community in the country.

Mr Boric is a native of Chile’s southernmost province Punta Arenas. A break from the traditional presidential candidates, he was praised for being open about his mental health condition — he was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and was hospitalised in 2018.

Mr Boric takes office in March and is the second millennial to head a South American country after El Salvador’s 40-year-old president Nayib Bukele.