Chile is gearing up for a presidential runoff election on December 14th, following a fiercely contested first round of voting that revealed a profound divide between the left and right wings of the country’s political spectrum. The election, held yesterday, Sunday, November 16th, failed to produce a clear winner, necessitating a second round.
Former Labor Minister, Jeanette Jara, the 51-year-old candidate representing the ruling center-left coalition, secured 26.8% of the vote after nearly 100% of ballots were tallied. While leading the pack, she fell short of the 50% threshold required to win outright in the first round.
Trailing behind Jara is José Antonio Kast, a 59-year-old far-right former congressman and devout Catholic, who garnered 24% of the vote. Kast’s strong showing underscores the appeal of his law-and-order platform, particularly amidst rising organized crime rates that have shaken Chile, once considered one of Latin America’s safest nations, and fueled anti-immigrant sentiments among the Chilean populace.
Economist Franco Parisi, a right-wing populist with a substantial social media following, came in third with 20% of the vote. Johannes Kaiser, a radical libertarian and former YouTube agitator elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2021, received 13.9% of the vote.
This year marked Chile’s first mandatory voting election since 2012, adding approximately 5 million new voters to the electorate. In addition to choosing a new president, voters also cast ballots for members of the Chamber of Deputies and half of the Senate.
Chile’s constitution prohibits consecutive presidential terms, preventing current leftist President Gabriel Boric, whose term ends in March and who became Chile’s youngest president at 36 years old, from seeking re-election.
Upon learning of his advancement to the runoff, Kast urged the country’s divided right-wing factions to unite behind him, framing the upcoming election as an “existential battle for the future of Chile.” He addressed his supporters, stating, “This will be the most important election of our generation; a true referendum between two models of society.”
