Boric wins. What now?

CHILE - In Brief 19 Dec 2021 by Robert Funk

Gabriel Boric’s victory in Sunday’s run-off election is an amazing political and personal story, from the time he emerged a as a student leader over ten years ago, to his surprise win in his coalition’s primaries last July. And now, at 35 years of age, with the largest amount of votes any winner has ever obtained, he reaches the presidency.The thing with meteoric rises is that often the fall is similarly precipitous. To avoid the fall Boric will have to successfully navigate at least three storms.First, he needs to build a government. From ministers on down, Boric will have to cobble together a working coalition from parties, like the Communist Party, that have quite different interests from his, Revolución Democrática that has little experience in government, and parties like the Socialist Party who did not formally join his election team. At the same time, Boric’s choice of ministers – especially in key ministries such as the Interior, Finance and the political ministries – will offer signals of how he sees each sector’s relative power within government.Second, Boric will need to soften expectations. The new president will come into office representing many things to many people: generational renewal, progressive policy, greater responsiveness and representation. But a deadlocked Congress, a continuing pandemic, a constitutional convention and an increasingly tight fiscal situation all combine to restrict Boric’s options. The president-elect’s agenda depends on raising millions through a tax hike. But with growth for 2022 estimated to be not much more than 2%, inflation and debt rising, his tax plans are unlikely to meet their targets.This leads to the third point. I...

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