Chilean President Gabriel Boric, 37, celebrates his first year at La Moneda this Saturday. It has been a complex 12 months for the leader of a new generation of leftists, the Broad Front, who came to power just a decade after bursting onto the Chilean scene as student leaders in 2011. Along with his fellow trip, Boric represented the promise of political renewal, after three decades since the return to democracy led by the faces of the transition. However, high expectations were soon met with repeated mistakes and a lack of political experience in government. The president’s popularity is at 35%, according to pollster Cadem, which measures it week after week, when it hit a low of 25% in January. The difficulty of reaching agreements with a fragmented Congress, where the ruling party does not have a majority, has contributed to creating a complex picture. But what was final was the outcome of the September 4 constitutional plebiscite, when 62% of Chileans outright rejected the transformative proposal for a new constitution, which Boric and his supporters backed. This was the milestone that marked the beginning of the current Chilean administration, in which the fundamental positions of the Cabinet are now in the hands of the socialists, the moderate left.

“His management style, sometimes dominated by impulses, was marked from the start by a lack of coordination and a precise agenda in terms of priorities. A few days after the Boric government took office, the problems of leadership and management and the lack of experience of several of its ministers became evident,” explains Octavio Avendaño, political scientist and academic at the University of Chile.

The President has made important gestures, in line with the new times, especially with young people and women, who continue to be his support. A year ago, he formed a Cabinet with 14 women and 10 men, in a trend that corrected towards full parity when the government changed on Friday. In public, the image of the president with children, with whom he has great affinity, and the way he has addressed issues such as mental health, is popular. Boric himself suffered from diseases of this sphere at other times, which he counted without any trauma, and obtained laws such as the one that guarantees social inclusion, comprehensive care and protection of those affected of the autism spectrum. It completed an important measure for the benefit of 5.3 million Chileans: the free public health network. Internationally, he was able to raise his voice against regimes like Venezuela and Nicaragua, despite internal pressure from his Communist Party allies. But if the president shines outside the borders during meetings with the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and the resigning New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern – a new generation of international progressivism – a different reality is lived inside.

Boric had to face an unprecedented event since the return to democracy, two coalitions within the same government. It has its original alliance, made up of the Broad Front and the Communist Party, and, on the other hand, Democratic Socialism, made up of the Socialists and other moderate formations that were part of the centre-left Concertación, which the Chile ruled between 1990 and 2010, after the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. There have been attempts to unite the two pro-government souls, but there are too many differences. Ideological contradictions, even within the same ministry, such as that of Foreign Relations, were frequent in this first year during which Boric had to painfully get rid of some of his comrades from the first generation of La Moneda.

“The Broad Front and the president are involved in the dilemma of being both revolutionary and institutional, subversive and official,” explains María José Naudon, a lawyer and political analyst. “His move to the center after defeat in the 2022 constitutional plebiscite has very contradictory episodes.”

Boric’s government had to change course several times and contradict its previous definitions. The most obvious happened in public safety, where one of the main challenges of this leftist administration is registered. This file was not among the axes of the program with which the president came to power in March 2022, but it has now become the main priority. This is the main focus of the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, a political professional who has held various positions in center-left governments.

On the other side, the opposition has a traditional right led by a few young leaders, less conservative, more open to a more modern and less unequal Chile. During these months, there have been moments of great agreement, such as when this sector honored its commitment to continue the constituent process, despite the defeat of the text in the September plebiscite. But in the opposition there are internal wars between the traditional formations and the extreme forces, like the Republican Party. This fact pushes the classical parties to harden their positions in order not to lose the right-wing electorate.

“If the government does not manage to dialogue with the opposition and to translate this dialogue into concrete adjustments, there is a risk of falls becoming more and more frequent. The risk is inactivity which can only be justified by blaming the opposition and which ends in a government with no achievements to show. The challenge will undoubtedly be how to take this path without losing a relevant identity in the short term and in electoral terms,” comments Naudon, an academic at the Adolfo Ibáñez University (UAI).

This first anniversary finds La Moneda with a new Cabinet, where Boric dismissed five ministers, including his Chancellor. In line with its first complex year, the Government faces difficult days: on Wednesday, the deputies demolished its tax reform project which was just beginning its legislative process. This is a blow for the executive, as it intended to collect 3.6% of GDP to pay for the government’s program and leaves relevant promises to citizens without funding. The legislative failure represents a stab in the arm for an Administration that was raising its head in economic matters with recent signs of recovery. “Obviously, the ability to fund much of the social agenda, as well as initiatives in health, social security and education, is being frustrated. Added to this is what has been the government’s weakest point: the fight against crime,” analyzes political scientist Avendaño.

What’s coming is not clear. Boric has three years in power ahead of him and, immediately, a relevant election on the horizon: on May 7, citizens must elect the 50 council members who will write a proposal for a new Constitution, in the second attempt in Chile in four years. to replace Pinochet’s Magna Carta, repeatedly reformed as a democracy. This campaign climate only underlines the political dynamics of Boric’s Chile, a hope that does not take off.

Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS America newsletter and receive all the latest news from the region.