Gabriel Boric made history when he got the most votes for head of state in Chilean history. Only two years later, polls show the nation is ready to abandon the president’s leftist coalition and back the conservative right.
That drastic change in sentiment is apparent in districts like Putaendo, a rural town of 17,000 people nestled between rolling hills about 100 kilometers north of Santiago. Historically a bastion of the left, its residents overwhelmingly backed Boric against conservative rival Jose Antonio Kast in 2021.
