35-year-old Gabriel Boric becomes Chile’s youngest-ever president-elect

Chile elects 35-year-old Gabriel Boric as president.

The streets of Santiago erupted in joy on Sunday as leftist millennial Gabriel Boric won an unexpectedly huge victory over his far-right opponent in a contentious contest, becoming Chile’s youngest-ever president-elect.

Boric, 35, received over 56 percent of the vote, while ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Kast received 44 percent and conceded soon before the final result was announced.

Following Kast’s concession, tens of thousands of Chileans flocked to the streets of the capital and other cities, blowing car horns, displaying pro-Boric placards, waving the rainbow LGBTQ flag, and yelling “Viva Chile!”

Boric campaigned on a platform of creating a “social welfare” state by raising taxes and social spending in a country with one of the world’s largest gaps between rich and poor.