Chileans will head to the polls today for a pivotal Presidential election that pits the governing leftist coalition against a wide field of right-wing contenders. As the country grapples with growing crime rates, surging immigration and discontent with the policies of the leftist President Gabriel Boric, some analysts expect voters to choose a different direction for the South American nation. If no candidate obtains more than half of the votes, the two frontrunners will go to a runoff election on December 14, according to Chilean law.
On the ballot are eight candidates with at least three frontrunners, including José Antonio Kast, an ultraconservative politician who has promised to make Chile great again; Johannes Kaiser, a libertarian who is considered even more radical than Kast; and Jeannette Jara, a longtime Communist Party member who has been distancing herself from the leftist government.
Leading the polls is Jara, a 51-year-old member of the Communist Party and former labour minister under the leftist Boric administration. She’s running on a promise to drive development through domestic production, protect workers’ rights, and raise the minimum wage. Her closest rival, according to most polls, is Kast, a far-right politician often compared by analysts to Donald Trump. Many of his policies mirror those of the US president, including his proposal to close the borders and remove some 300,000 people who entered Chile irregularly.
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