Far right poised to win Chile’s presidency

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Veteran far-right politician José Antonio Caste is the favorite to win the presidency of Chile after 70% of voters supported right-leaning candidates in the first round of elections, prompting him to run in a runoff against a communist candidate next month.

After 83% of the votes were counted, Kast, founder of the conservative Republican Party, received 24.1% of the votes, according to Chile’s electoral service. Janet Jara, a member of the Chilean Communist Party, which represents the ruling leftist coalition, received 26.7 percent of the votes.

Pollsters say Kast is likely to receive about 45 percent of the votes won by three other opposition candidates, compared to Jara, making him the favorite for the second round scheduled for December 14.

A Kast victory would mark a sharp change in direction for Chile, after six years of massive protests over inadequate public services and high costs of living, which led to the election of current leftist President Gabriel Buric, who is constitutionally barred from running for a second consecutive term.

Buric’s efforts at social reforms to combat inequality have been overshadowed by an unprecedented wave of organized crime, with gangs from Venezuela and elsewhere arriving in Chile in recent years. Pollsters say crime and migration, which have surged during Venezuela’s economic collapse, were top of voters’ concerns.

Jara, who defeated more moderate candidates in the June primary to become the sole representative of the left, was worse than polls had predicted and would make it “almost impossible” for her to catch Cast, said Robert Funk, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chile.

“Historically, the oath has done well,” he added. “It’s pretty clear what’s going to happen.”

While right-wing candidates prevailed, Chile’s traditional center-right coalition, Chile Vamos, fell to fifth place, with its candidate, Evelyn Matthe, 72, winning 12.7 percent. Mathie immediately pledged her support to Kast.

Kast, 59, promised to form an “emergency government” to take swift action on crime and illegal immigration, by creating new high-security prison facilities, increasing penalties for gang-related crimes, and deporting illegal immigrants.

He also pledged to cut public spending by $6 billion over 18 months, an idea criticized by many economists as unrealistic.

Next month’s runoff will be the most polarized election in Chile’s 35 years of democracy, although both Jara and Cast have moderated their extreme ideological positions to secure centrist voters.

Kast, a devout Catholic and father of nine children, downplayed the conservative family values ​​that were a key part of his previous two presidential campaigns, including his opposition to the partial legalization of abortion in Chile. He also avoided talking about his support for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Jara, 51, a member of Chile’s hardline Communist Party since he was 14, pledged to maintain fiscal balance, offering a minimum monthly “living income” of $810, and increasing income through subsidies and direct government transfers to workers. Its primary security undertaking is a plan to weaken gangs by tackling money laundering.

Analysts said the anti-establishment candidates fared well amid frustration with the failure of traditional parties to prevent the security crisis and solve long-standing cost-of-living problems.

Franco Parisi, a right-leaning populist businessman, came in third place, with an unexpectedly large 19.4 percent of the vote, while Johannes Kaiser, a libertarian congressman and former YouTube personality, received 13.9 percent.

The new compulsory voting system boosted participation, with more than 11 million ballots cast, compared to 7.1 million in the first round of elections in 2021.

Early vote counts for the congressional elections, in which all seats in the House of Representatives and half of the seats in the Senate were contested, indicate that the right will obtain a majority in both chambers.

“The problem with CAST will be that the right-wing bloc in congress is made up of three coalitions, some moderate, some populist, some hard-right, with different ideas about how the right can use that majority,” said Patricio Navia, a Chilean political analyst.

He added: “Unifying the right rather than defeating the left will be a greater challenge.”