[ti:Presidential Election Could Change More Than Chile’s Leader]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Chilean citizens vote Sunday to choose a president.
[00:04.76]Seven people are competing for the country's top position.
[00:10.68]Public opinion studies show two candidates leading the race:
[00:16.08]Jose Antonio Kast and Gabriel Boric.
[00:22.44]Kast and Boric are widely considered
[00:26.04]to hold extreme political positions:
[00:29.68]Kast as a conservative, Boric as a liberal.
[00:36.04]The vote is the first presidential ballot in Chile
[00:40.04]since a civil uprising began in 2019 over economic inequality.
[00:47.44]Demonstrations as well as riots took place for months.
[00:52.96]Two years later,
[00:55.16]an effort to rewrite the country's constitution is in process.
[01:01.88]Chile has been a democracy for more than 30 years
[01:06.56]following the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.
[01:13.76]Generally moderate political parties have led the country.
[01:19.76]Chile has experienced so much economic growth
[01:24.44]that it is seen as the model to follow in South America.
[01:31.72]Political observers say the decision Sunday could shake that image.
[01:39.20]Nicholas Watson is a Latin American expert
[01:43.12]with the advisory business Teneo.
[01:47.52]He said the election represents
[01:50.32]the most important political "shift" since 1990.
[01:56.20]Public opinion studies suggest that neither Kast nor Boric
[02:02.40]will have enough votes to win the election.
[02:06.72]But they are expecting to win enough to face each other alone
[02:11.76]in a second part of voting.
[02:15.72]Both represent a new political generation outside the mainstream.
[02:22.24]Parties have long been considered center-left or center-right,
[02:28.40]meaning they propose moderate policies.
[02:32.60]Boric has said he wants to "bury" Chile's political model.
[02:39.96]Kast, who has praised Pinochet's economic policies,
[02:45.96]wants to reduce the size of the government and lower taxes.
[02:53.08]In Latin America, Chile stands out.
[02:58.16]World Bank measurements on the rule of law,
[03:02.24]regulation, governance and political stability in Chile
[03:08.88]place it as stronger than its big neighbors:
[03:13.64]Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Peru.
[03:20.40]It is a member of the Organization
[03:23.08]for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
[03:26.72]and considered a model of free trade.
[03:33.24]Its economic model is rooted
[03:35.84]in market policies of Western economists
[03:39.68]under Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s.
[03:46.08]It has been copied by others.
[03:49.00]They hoped to reproduce Chile's stable economic growth.
[03:55.68]But, critics of the model say that growth was not evenly spread.
[04:02.28]They say it created a few rich business leaders
[04:06.32]above normal Chileans.
[04:09.00]And they say Chileans have paid high costs
[04:14.00]for private healthcare and education
[04:17.96]and receive little retirement pay.
[04:23.12]More mainstream candidates,
[04:26.00]such as Yasna Provoste on the center-left
[04:31.00]and Sebastian Sichel on the moderate right
[04:35.60]have gotten less attention from voters.
[04:40.96]"Chile urgently needs change today,"
[04:44.04]said 37-year-old Luz Vergara,
[04:49.56]who works for an engineering company in the capital, Santiago.
[04:55.24]She plans to vote for Kast who she said "gives me some security."
[05:03.24]Environmental engineer Romina Aliaga
[05:08.16]agrees that Chile needs major change but supports Boric,
[05:14.64]who she said will make improvements.
[05:18.96]The country needs "to move forward
[05:21.76]and not go backwards on issues such as environmental policies,
[05:28.60]gender equality, and abortion," the 28-year-old said.
[05:36.40]I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM