Participación Electoral en la Crisis de la Representación en Chile

Abstract

With the arrival of voluntary voting in Chile during 2012, a phenomenon of selectivity in participation by voter segments began to take place. On the one hand, a stable group of people who vote in each election comprising approximately 70% of total voters became consolidated; on the other hand, a new group of voters emerged that are mobilized by specific candidacies, a phenomenon that worsened after the presidential elections of 2017. However, after the milestone of the 2019 protests in Chile and the subsequently greater focus on inequality and social injustice which came on to the agenda, a group of young people who tend to vote for more left-wing alternatives emerged. Simultaneously, due to the pandemic, voters over 65 years of age abstained from participating in the electoral events that give shape to the current political cycle. We are therefore experiencing a change not only in the type of voters, but also in the directionality of their preferences. After the presidential election of November 2021, we will know if the political orientation of young voters stabilizes, or if the older, more moderate voters return, currently giving an uncertain picture of presidential results. These behaviors are not only understood in the context of great social unrest but are also explained by the decline in participation of older voters as a direct effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.