Meet Gabriel Boric, Chile’s Youngest President In History

Gabriel Boric is a 35-year-old Chilean politician, who is to become Chile’s youngest president in history after winning Chile’s presidential election on Sunday night, December 19 2021.

He defeated his opponent, José Antonio Kast ac right-wing politician with over  56% of the total votes and will be inaugurated as the president of Chile on the 11th of  March 2022.

Childhood and Education

Gabriel Boric was born on the 11th of February 1986 in Punta Arenas to  Maria Font and  Luis Borić a chemical engineer and a public servant.

He had his primary and secondary education at The British School in his hometown. He then moved to the University of Chile to study law in 2004. 

While Studying law at the University of Chile Gabriel built a very successful political career in the university. He started by joining the political collective Autonomous Left (Izquierda Autónoma).

He was also an advisor to the Students’ Union of the Law Department in 2008 and became its president in 2009 when he led a protest for 44 days against the dean Roberto Nahum. He also represented students as a university senator.

In 2012 he became the President of the University of Chile Student Federation (FECH) defeating Camila Vallejo, the incumbent president with  30.52% of the total votes.

As a student representative, Gabriel Boric became one of the leading figures of the 2011–2013 Chilean student protests and  was included on the list of 100 young leaders of Chile, by very popular Chilean Magazine

Gabriel Boric’s Political Career

After graduating from the University of Chile, Gabriel Boric began his National political career when he contested as an independent candidate in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

He contested to represent  District 60 which encompasses the Region of Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic. He was elected with 26.18% of the total votes, the highest number received by any candidate in the region.

Boric was sworn into the Chamber of Deputies in 2014. As a member of the parliament, Boric headed several commissions such as the Commission for  Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples, Commission for Extreme Zones and the Chilean Antarctic and The commission for Labour and Social Security.

Due to his diligence in the parliament, Boric was re-elected for the same position in 2017, where he won with 24.62 per cent of the total votes which was again the highest number of votes for any candidate in the region.

Presidential Election.

Prior to Gabriel Boric contesting for the 2021 Chilean presidential election, he defeated Daniel Jadue in the Apruebo Dignidad primary election with over 60% of the vote.

He however announced on Twitter that he would work together with Daniel Jadue during the general election where he with 56% of the total vote making him Chile’s youngest president in history