LatinNews Daily - 25 November 2024

*Chile’s President Gabriel Boric has celebrated the results of the second round of regional elections, which saw the re-election of Claudio Orrego as governor of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago (RM) – Chile’s most populous region. The government had backed Orrego, who ran as an independent, over his rival, Francisco Orrego Gutiérrez, of the right-of-centre Renovación Nacional (RN). Gubernatorial elections went to the second round in 11 of Chile’s 16 regions, with candidates running for parties in the federally ruling coalition and its allies winning in four other regions – Antofagasta, Atacama, Valparaíso, and O’Higgins. An independent candidate also beat the candidate for the main opposition Chile Vamos coalition in La Araucanía. Chile Vamos candidates were victorious in Arica y Parincota, Coquimbo, Maule, Los Lagos, and Biobío. In the first round, held in late October, candidates running for the federally ruling coalition were elected in the regions of Tarapacá, Ñuble, and Los Ríos, while Chile Vamos won in Aysén. In Magallanes, an independent candidate was elected with ties to the Partido Radical (PR), part of Boric’s ruling coalition. The results are a boost for the ruling coalition, which will govern in seven regions, with three more regions in the hands of sympathetic independent candidates. Chile Vamos will rule in six regions. This follows a disappointing performance for the ruling coalition in October’s municipal elections, in which Chile Vamos secured 122 mayoralties ahead of the ruling coalition’s 111.