Gabriel Boric vows to 'fight privileges of the few' as Chile's premier

Gabriel Boric has vowed to unite Chile, fight "the privileges of the few" and tackle poverty and inequality after winning a decisive victory over his far-right opponent to become the South American country's youngest premier.

The 35-year-old leftwing former student leader won 56% of the vote in Sunday's second-round presidential election, cruising past his ultra-conservative opponent, José Antonio Kast, who took 44.2%.

The triumph of Boric, who belongs to a generation deeply opposed to the extreme economic model bequeathed to Chile by the Pinochet dictatorship, comes two years after a rise in metro fares triggered huge protests and demands for drastic changes to the political and economic system.

The president-elect, who will be sworn in on 11 March, said the time had come for a radical overhaul of Chilean society and its economy.

"Men and women of Chile, I accept this mandate humbly and with a tremendous sense of responsibility because we are standing on the shoulders of giants," he said in front of a vast crowd packed into a Santiago boulevard.

"I know that the future of our country will be at stake next year. That is why I want to promise you that I will be a president who will take care of democracy and not jeopardise it, a president who listens more than he speaks, who seeks unity, who looks after people's daily needs, and who fights hard against the privileges of the few and who works every day for Chilean families."

Boric said his generation wanted to have their rights respected and not be treated "like consumer goods or a business", adding the country would no longer allow Chile's poor to "keep paying the price" of inequality.