Gabriel Boric Font defeated far-right Jose Antonio Kast Rist (Al Jazeera) in yesterday’s election, securing 56 percent of votes compared to Kast’s 44 percent. The election saw the highest turnout since voting stopped being mandatory in 2012. At thirty-five years old, Boric will become Chile’s youngest president in two centuries (FT). He gained prominence during student protests a decade ago and, amid demonstrations that roiled the country in 2019, backed a constitutional rewrite that is now underway.
 
Boric has pledged to reduce inequality (NYT) and steer Chile’s economy in a greener direction. Outgoing conservative President Sebastian Pinera held a call with Boric to offer support, and Boric promised to be “the president of all Chileans” in a televised appearance with Pinera. 

Yesterday’s elections saw record-low voter turnout after an electoral overhaul by Beijing. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the newly elected legislature should present proposals (Bloomberg) by June on enacting security legislation that prompted mass protests in 2003.
 
China: Tennis star Peng Shuai, who posted on social media last month that a former Chinese Community Party official pressured her into having sex, told a Singaporean newspaper that she had never alleged sexual assault (NYT).
 
CFR’s Jerome A. Cohen discusses how Beijing silences its critics.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation announced plans to open the fund (TOLOnews) through the Islamic Development Bank by the first quarter of 2022.
 
India: The World Health Organization issued emergency authorization (Reuters) for the Serum Institute of India’s version of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, greenlighting shipments of the vaccine under the COVAX vaccine distribution program.

A New York Times investigation of the Pentagon’s records on U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria found that hundreds of civilian deaths have gone uncounted since 2014 and that air strikes have been marked by “deeply flawed intelligence” and “rushed and often imprecise targeting.”
 
For Foreign Affairs, Audrey Kurth Cronin argues that the United States needs to rethink the way it uses drone strikes.
 
Yemen: Data suggests that Saudi Arabia used spyware from the Israeli company NSO Group to target the phone of a UN investigator probing possible war crimes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the Guardian reported.

Yesterday’s rallies marked three years (AFP) since the start of protests that ousted President Omar al-Bashir. Protesters are now calling for General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who led a coup in October, to step down.
 
CFR’s Michelle Gavin lays out what to know about the crisis in Sudan.
 
Tanzania: The country is stepping up diplomacy (East African) to improve its economic ties with Kenya and Uganda, which are currently engaged in a trade war.

The meeting today (Presidency of Ukraine) comes after Ukraine pressed Western leaders for reassurances of support as tensions with Russia intensified last week. Lithuania has also called for a stronger Western response (France24).
 
United Kingdom (UK): Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (Bloomberg) to take over post-Brexit negotiations after former Brexit minister and one-time Johnson confidant David Frost resigned.

The UK’s Supreme Court is expected to rule today (MercoPress) on whether to hand some $1 billion worth of gold over to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or to opposition leader Juan Guaido, who says he is Venezuela’s rightful president.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) told Fox News he will reject (CNN) the Build Back Better Act. The White House said Manchin’s comments were “at odds” with his discussions with President Joe Biden, and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House will continue to press Manchin to reverse his decision.