Minister Andrés Allamand kicks off the voting of Chileans abroad

"In a shared effort between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Electoral Service, we are carrying out, once again, an electoral process so that it reaches all parts of the world." In this way, Minister Andrés Allamand began voting abroad.

The Secretary of State was accompanied by the President of the Electoral Service, Andrés Tagle; the organism's director, Raúl García, and —through a live videoconference— with Consul María Alejandra Farías from Auckland, New Zealand, where the first voting table was opened.

At the meeting, the Minister announced the progress of the process of constitution of the polling stations around the world and stressed that thanks to the role and effort of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this process has operated normally.

"The electoral roll for this election reaches more than 71,000 thousand voters, who will be able to cast their vote in the 112 voting places present in 64 countries where this process will take place," he explained.

From New Zealand, Consul María Alejandra Farías highlighted the interest of Chileans in the oceanic country in participating in the election process, despite sanitary restrictions. "Despite the fact that Auckland is under strong sanitary measures as a result of an outbreak of the delta variant of Covid-19, we have noticed a strong interest from our compatriots, who concur in compliance with all sanitary measures," she commented.

Finally, Foreign Minister Allamand detailed the itinerary in which the polling stations will begin to open, starting with those located in the countries of Oceania and Asia, to continue with Europe, Africa, and America, with the consulates located in the cities of the west coast of the United States the last to be established, this due to the time difference between them and Chile.

"Democracy is stronger when participation is high and when participation is low, it weakens. So I hope - and I imagine that the Servel is with the same disposition - that tomorrow we will have a truly massive vote and hopefully surpassing what the parameters of previous elections have been," Minister Allamand concluded.

In total, there will be 71,018 people qualified to vote in these elections (81.4% more compared to the 2017 elections where the electoral roll abroad reached 39,137). All of them will be able to cast their vote in the 64 countries where the process will take place and where 248 tables have been set up around the world.