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Chileans Abroad Hold Symbolic Vote with Surprising Results

Categories: Latin America, Chile, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Elections, Migration & Immigration

Results are in for votes cast by Chileans living abroad [1]who participated in a symbolic election through the online platform “Voto Ciudadano [2]” [es, Citizen vote], since Chilean law does not allow voting from overseas.

The results show a surprising difference with the forecasts [3] made by pollsters in Chile [4], which placed Michelle Bachelet [5]-the candidate from the left wing Nueva Mayoría [New Majority] coalition [6]- as the winner, and Evelyn Matthei [7] -the candidate from the right wing Alianza [Alliance] coalition- [8] in second place.

According to these results, however, Michelle Bachelet would compete in a run-off election with Marcel Claude [9], the candidate from the Partido Humanista [Humanist Party] [10].

Results #VotoExterior [11] via @elquintopoder [12]

The symbolic vote had a high turnout, as detailed on Twitter by El Quinto Poder [15]:

The votes on #VotoExterior [11] were 12,486 and were cast from 105 countries all around the world.

This map shows the countries where the votes were cast:

Countries where most of the votes came from #VotoExterior [11] via @elquintopoder [12]

These are some reactions on Twitter about this symbolic election:

I would have never guessed the % of the vote from abroad, here are the results

Even though it was symbolic, it was still exciting.

Thanks to #votociudadano [26] [citizen vote] I was able to vote today from Mexico. Good initiative! We have to keep fighting for the vote from abroad.

People living abroad know! It's terrible that those votes are not valid :/

In the Voto Ciudadano website [30] [es] you can find more details about the vote from abroad and its results.