Chilean women, wary of rightist, may decide president’s race

By PATRICIA LUNA and JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Most eligible Chilean voters stayed home for the first round of presidential voting. But fear of right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast galvanized many women to action when he finished first, topping a leftist rival. Those women could be the clincher in a tight race between political extremes battling for Chile’s future. Several opinion polls indicate that this time women are flocking in droves to Gabriel Boric — a millennial who uses non-binary pronouns from the stump. He’s trying to capitalize on Kast’s long record of sexist comments even as Kast retreats from some of his hard-line proposals.