Chileans vote in highly polarized presidential election

By EVA VERGARA and JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chileans appear to be voting in heavy numbers on the country’s next president following a polarizing campaign in which leading candidates vowed to chart a new direction in the region’s most economically advanced country. Polls consistently have favored former student protest leader Gabriel Boric and ultra-conservative candidate José Antonio Kast. But neither is expected to win enough support to cross the 50% threshold required to avoid a runoff next month. Whoever wins will take over a country in the grips of major change but uncertain of its future course after decades of centrist reforms that largely left untouched the economic model imposed by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.