By History was made in Chile on Sunday after the country elected its youngest-ever president, Gabriel Boric.
The 35-year-old leftist, in an unexpected victory, garnered nearly 56 percent of the vote beating his closest rival, Jose Antonio Kast who secured 44 percent and even conceded before the final result was known.
Boric was said to have won by a margin of nearly a million ballots out of 8.3 million cast by 15 million eligible voters.
AFP reported that the streets of Santiago, the country’s capital, erupted in celebration as tens of thousands of Chileans came out to celebrate the development.
Boric, now president-elect, had campaigned on the promise of installing a “social welfare” state, increasing taxes and social spending in a country with one of the world’s largest gaps between rich and poor.
Branded a “communist” by his detractors, he vowed in his first official address Sunday to “expand social rights” in Chile, but to do so with “fiscal responsibility.”
The new president will face the difficult task of healing a society reeling from a polarizing campaign replete with antagonistic attacks and fake news onslaughts.
Meanwhile, Boric will be inaugurated in March next year.
