Practically one in five voters in Sunday’s Chilean presidential elections, 19.71%, supported Franco Parisi. Commercial engineer and economist, 58 years old, he leads the People’s Party (PDG), a populist force that claims to interpret the Chilean who is “neither facho nor comunacho” – neither fascist nor communist – who once again, as in 2021, when he obtained 12.18%, was the surprise of Sunday’s elections for having arrived in third place: seven points behind the communist Jeannette Jara (26.85%) and four from the ultra José Antonio Kast (23.92%), the candidates who will go to the ballot on December 14th. Only one poll, that of Pulso Ciudadano-Activa Research, predicted Parisi’s third place after Jara and Kast, who in these four weeks are trailing the 2,552,649 who voted for him.
“40-45% of Parisi will go to Jara, but it’s not enough for him to win,” Ramón Cavieres, of Pulso Ciudadano-Activa Research, told the newspaper. The second. “What happened with Parisi is a political fact, because the percentage of votes he obtained is very relevant for the second round”, added the analyst, who described what Parisi, a much discussed figure, represents in the current scenario: the citizen candidate who lives on social networks (which is more online than offline), from the lower strata, who 40% or 50% do not identify with politics. People who do not have crime as their primary concern, but also the economic issue, vote for him (Jara and Kast, therefore, must seduce them through this issue). Much of their vote comes from those who have problems with salary, income, health, education, who cannot make ends meet. «It is a story outside traditional politics», indicates the expert from Pulso Ciudadano-Activa Research.
Parisi also surprises among the deputies: he obtained 14 out of 155 (more than double the previous time), so the People’s Party will be important in the approval of the laws. Even if the right did better than the left in Congress, it will have to negotiate with Parisi’s representatives.
The populist, however, on Sunday evening avoided supporting one of the two winners: “I will not sign a blank check for anyone. It is a lack of respect. I have bad news for candidate Kast and candidate Jara. Earn your votes, earn your streets,” he said in his speech in which he thanked God and also answered a phone call in English. Last Tuesday on television he explained why, in his opinion, the second round is open and it is not so clear whether Kast will win.
Parisi is strong in the north of Chile. In Arica, in the far north of the Andean country, he beat all the candidates with 27.84%. He also came first in Tarapacá, but with an even higher percentage: 31.11%. In Antofagasta it was exceeded: 34.99%. Further south, in Atacama, it continued to lead with 32.60%. It is the area in which he reigns, because already in Coquimbo, in the centre-north, Jara surpasses him, even if only slightly (27.49% against 26.72%). From there towards the south, Parisi loses prominence, finishing third, even if he regains strength in the central-southern area – the regions of Maule, Ñuble and Biobío -, where he overtakes Jara, even if Kast beats him. Even in Araucanía, a violent area, it is in second place after the republican one. He loses strength in the far south: in Aysén he is fourth – he is overtaken by Jara, Kast and the libertarian Johannes Kaiser, in that order -, as well as in Magallanes.
In a report by Patricio Moyano, an economist expert in data analysis and statistical models applied to studies on social media, the media and the market, he analyzes why most polls have not captured the Parisi phenomenon and describes his voter. Men between 25 and 45 years old, independent workers (self-employed), informal workers and employed in the gig economy. Very active in digital, peri-urban or directly rural, very distrustful of institutions. Its adherents refuse polls – which is why they do not respond -, generally have little availability of time and apathy or political tiredness. The Parisi vote usually remains hidden for various reasons, as happened with Trump 2016, Brexit, Bolsonaro 2018, Le Pen 2022 or Milei in 2023. Many voters, the report states, do not declare that they will vote for Parisi because they “fear social judgments” and the vote becomes clandestine.
His fame skyrocketed after the premiere of his television show The Parisi: the power of the peoplein 2012, and then with Bad boysbroadcast in YouTube. Equipped with great communicator skills, he connects with his followers through social networks and digital platforms. “Parisi was the first purely digital candidate in Chile,” Moyano’s report said. Parisi skillfully navigates digital ecosystems such as Facebook and YouTube (with audiences of hundreds of thousands), closed communities, influencers Local and algorithmic viralization. Its adherents, therefore, use digital channels not measured by pollsters, reject the political class, the media and pollsters and, what’s more, decide late.
“What a shame, they manipulated the polls,” Parisi said Sunday evening, blaming opinion polls for hurting him in his third attempt to reach La Moneda. He talked about the poll terrorists. Moyano explains in his analysis why the measurements failed Parisi: “The country experienced a profound change with the institution of compulsory voting, which expanded the electoral universe towards segments historically absent from the polls: disconnected young people, informal workers, anti-political voters and peripheral sectors with little institutional interaction.” In short, it was measured visible voters when the election would be decided by invisible voterss, where exactly are the supporters of this candidate who before the elections had promised that, if he won, he would organize events tuning–as the hobby of transforming cars is known– around the Palacio de La Moneda.
For Pamela Jiles, a popular and controversial deputy, elected on this occasion by the UDC, “this party has read the real Chile better than anyone else”. Jara said it on the same Sunday evening: “I want to congratulate Parisi because he has been able to interpret a great citizen feeling with radical and innovative measures and it is our obligation to listen to the people. This is why what he has done is not of little importance and deserves our respect”, said the left-wing candidate.
