Spanish
Santiago de Chile, June 29 (EFE).- Chilean President Gabriel Boric congratulated his former Minister of Labor, Jeannette Jara, on her victory in the left-wing presidential primaries this Sunday, praised her profile as a winner "in difficult battles" and urged the defeated candidates and all the progressive parties of the country to support her without fissures for the November elections.
In a message broadcast through social media, the president, who is on leave for his recent paternity, gave them a single recommendation after the hard fight to lead the center-left: "Get to work" to win the presidency.
"I salute and embrace Jeannette Jara for the tremendous support obtained today. She immediately goes on to lead the forces of progressivism towards the future, who have clearly chosen her as their leader. What is coming will not be easy, but Jeannette knows about difficult battles. Now, all together, let's work for unity, with affection and breadth to convene the majority of our compatriots to continue building a more just, safe and happy country," Boric affirmed.
"My eternal respects to Carolina Tohá, Gonzalo Winter, and Jaime Mulet. Defeats are always hard, but they are the moments in which we perhaps grow the most, and it's always better when we do it together. I know you are here to continue building this Chile that we love so much," he added.
"As President, I highly value the exercise of primaries, that the people decide who will be on the final ballot in November, and today, more than one million four hundred thousand people decided, thereby strengthening democracy. Let's get to work," he concluded.
Jara, former Minister of Labor and member of the Communist Party, swept her rivals in a call marked by low participation with more than 60% of the votes, ahead of her cabinet colleague, former Socialist Interior Minister Carolina Toha, who reached around 27%, deputy Gonzalo Winter, member of the Frente Amplio, the president's coalition, with about 9% and deputy Jaime Mulet, Green Regionalist Social Federation, with just 2.3%.
Jara will face in the first round the opposition candidates from the right and far-right, who have avoided primaries to choose a single candidate like the left.
