Chile Heads to Polls in Polarized Presidential Runoff; Far-Right Candidate Leads

Chilean voters are heading to the polls to choose between two sharply contrasting visions for the country: far-right candidate José Antonio Kast and left-wing Jeannette Jara. Polls suggest Kast, a career politician making his third bid for the presidency, is the frontrunner. Jara is a member of the Communist Party and former labor minister.

Because the candidates represent such different paths for Chile, many voters may feel they are choosing the lesser of two evils in this election, where participation is mandatory.

At a campaign-closing rally in Temuco on Thursday, Kast reiterated his core campaign promises to a crowd of thousands, many of whom were young men waving Chilean flags. Shouts of "Communists out!" were heard, but the loudest cheers were for promises to deport migrants and imprison criminals en masse.

"I'm voting for Kast because of his security agenda," said Benjamín Sandoval, an 18-year-old student voting for the first time. "The country is very unsafe; you can't even go out after 10 pm these days. They could attack you, and it's the migrants who are doing it most."

A heightened fear of crime has taken hold across Chile, fueled in part by intense media coverage. Despite Chile being one of the safest nations in Latin America, a 2024 Gallup report ranked it sixth out of 144 countries for fear of walking alone at night. While violent crime has always been present, the current level of anxiety is noteworthy.