We publish here this report by journalist Claudia Aranda, regarding the influx of Chileans to the Consulate in the city of Montreal, Canada, where many people went to vote today, while the polling stations and polling stations in the country were being organised from early in the morning.
Meanwhile, presidential candidate Gabriel Boric, having gone to vote in his hometown of Punta Arenas, made the following statements:
“For me this is a historic moment, but this is not about one person, this is about a collective project, it is about hope winning over fear. It is about us being able to build a Chile that is fair, that is dignified, that has decent pensions for the elderly, that has a health system that does not discriminate, that we manage to decentralise it, that power is in the territories, and I hope that today there is tremendous participation, I hope that the people understand that they are the protagonists of this story and that those of us who aspire to represent them are at their service. And I am at least very hopeful today, here from Magallanes speaking to Chile, with regional and national media, I am very happy about what we also represent as a generation, about the process of change that is coming, with certainty, with the necessary gradualness and the programme of transformations that we are going to carry forward”.
“The call I make is that I am going to be the President of all Chileans. And in Chile, beyond the political differences that are expressed in the campaign, we have many things in common. And that the objectives that we have set ourselves to deliver a pension system that is dignified, for people who have worked all their lives and who today have pensions of misery, are issues that we have to change. That there should not be a health system for the rich and a health system for the poor, these are issues that we have to change and I have no doubt that we are going to reach an agreement. I hope to be able to lead these agreements, with conversation, with dialogue, with whatever is necessary, but moving forward. As an old friend of mine used to say, you have to move forward step by step, but never stop moving forward.
