Communist and far-right candidates head to Chile presidential run-off

Chile’s presidential election will go to a run-off vote in December between a Communist Party and a far-right candidate, after a first round on Sunday produced no outright winner.

The election campaign was dominated by crime and immigration, as the flow of people into the country has recently grown, while candidates pledged to fight foreign gangs like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.

The Communist Party’s Jeannette Jara, from the governing coalition, narrowly won the first round, followed closely by far-right rival José Antonio Kast.

The result is expected to give a boost to Kast, as Jara was the only left-wing candidate running against several right-wing candidates, splitting the right-wing vote.

In the 14 December run-off, voters will have to coalesce around one of these two candidates.

Kast is expected to pick up votes from other candidates who did not make the final two, including the centre-right Senator Evelyn Matthei and the radical libertarian Congressman Johannes Kaiser.

If he wins, it would make Chile the latest country in Latin America to shift to the right.

Kast is a conservative lawyer and former congressman who lost the 2021 election’s run-off to President Gabriel Boric. This is his third time running for president.

The father of nine has promoted a tough crackdown on immigration, including a Trump-style “border wall”. He opposes abortion even in cases of rape, has criticised environmental and indigenous activism, and wants to shrink the state.

His brother was a minister during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship and his father was a member of the Nazi party.

Kast said on election night that Chile needed to avoid “continuity of a very bad government – perhaps the worst government in the democratic history of Chile”.

Jara is a member of the Communist Party, but many see her as centre-left in practice.

She was a minister in Boric’s government and her platform has included pledging to increase production of lithium – a metal vital for electronics – as well as raising the minimum wage, building new prisons and deploying the army to protect Chile’s borders.

As results were coming through, she said: “Democracy in our country must be taken care of and valued. And it costs us a lot to recover it, today it is at risk.”

Both candidates have talked up their pledges on crime and immigration, as organised crime and kidnappings having risen in the country.

Chile’s foreign population has grown since 2017. The National Migration Service said in December 2023 that the number of foreigners in the country had reached more than 1.9 million people, up more than 46% from 2018. Official estimates suggest at least 330,000 are undocumented migrants living illegally in the country, many from Venezuela.

Kast has blamed rising crime on immigration, though several studies suggest that those born abroad commit fewer crimes on average than Chileans.

Chile, perceived as more prosperous and safe compared to some other Latin American nations, is a desirable destination for migrants in the region, and for those returning from the US after President Donald Trump’s migration crackdown.

Kast has pledged to build ditches along Chile’s northern border with Peru and Bolivia, as well as mass deportations of undocumented migrants and people who entered the country illegally.

He has also promised new maximum-security prisons, like those built in El Salvador.

Jara has promised to build new prisons and expel foreigners convicted of drug trafficking.

This election was the first time that all eligible voters were automatically registered to vote and that voting was compulsory in Chile.