The preamble to the final battle: Gabriel Boric and José Antonio Kast star in the last debate before the runoff

The wait is over. At this time, the presidential candidates Gabriel Boric (Apruebo Dignidad) and José Antonio Kast (Frente Social Cristiano) star in the last television debate for the second round scheduled for this December 19.
Both candidates will be confronted by journalists from Canal 13, TVN, Mega, CHV, CNN Chile, La Red, Telecanal and TV+ in the Anatel debate. The idea, a priori, is that the debate is more focused on the presentation of government proposals than on political disputes or other controversies, as has been the tone after the previous debate, held by Archi last Friday.
In the run-up to the debate, Boric noted that he is “preparing, studying, taking a deep breath (…) Faced with the amount of lies that the other candidate is installing, it seems to me that Chile is seeing how the dirty campaign is unleashed.”
For his part, Kast commented that “I am hopeful that the different media that attend this debate, and journalists, will consult us about social urgencies. Every time you go around the country people say ‘hey, in the debate they talked about the change of the flag, they talked about the issue of the greater attributions for the Convention, but where are social urgencies?'”
The tense atmosphere
The weekend before the debate was marked by accusations of “dirty campaigns” and the use of fake news that they denounced from Boric’s command. In addition, adherents of both candidacies staged clashes in Plaza Baquedano, which was criticized by Kast, who called on Boric to “control his adherents.” The Frente Amplista, for its part, asked both sides to focus the debate on ideas and proposals, without falling into acts of violence.
In addition, to this is added the arrival in Chile of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. Faced with this, the standard-bearer of the Christian Social Front maintained that, due to the high position she holds, it would not be appropriate for the former president to interfere in the electoral situation. However, Bachelet and Boric held their long-awaited meeting that same weekend.

Original source in Spanish