Presidential candidate Gabriel Boric, of the I approve Dignity coalition, talks during his closing campaign rally ahead of the presidential run-off election in in Santiago, Chile, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021.
Presidential candidate Gabriel Boric talks during his closing campaign rally ahead of the presidential run-off election in in Santiago, Chile, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021.AP Photo/Matias Delacroix
  • Leftist candidate Gabriel Boric's platform focused on radical reforms to address inequality.
  • Boric's opponent, José Antonio Kast, conceded only 90 minutes after polls had closed.
  • During his presidency, Boric aims to raise taxes on the rich and create a greener economy.

Chileans elected 35-year-old Gabriel Boric as their next president, making him the youngest person elected president in the country's history.

Boric, a lawmaker and former student protest leader, incorporated promises of radical reforms on inequality into his platform, including raising taxes on the rich, expanding the country's social safety net, creating a greener economy, and drafting a new Constitution, The New York Time reported.

"I am going to give the best of me to rise to this tremendous challenge," Boric said during a public video call with outgoing president, Sebastián Piñera, according to The Times. "I will be the president of all Chileans."

 

His opponent, right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast, conceded only 90 minutes after the polls closed and half of the ballots were counted, according to the BBC. While Boric and Kast ran on vastly different platforms, both men belong to political parties that have never been represented in Chile's government.

Kast congratulated Boric and said on Twitter "from now on, he is the president elect of Chile and deserves all our respect and constructive collaboration."

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