Leftist, far-right candidates go through to Chilean presidential run-off

Leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast are headed to Chile’s presidential run-off after topping yesterday’s first round of voting in an election dominated by fears of violent crime.

With 99 percent of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, won 26.85%, compared to 23.93% for Kast, the Servel electoral service said.

The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs.

Kast, 59, has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile’s border with Bolivia to keep out migrants from poorer countries to the north, such as Venezuela.

After Sunday’s results came in, he vowed to “rebuild” Chile after four years of center-left rule, which he termed “maybe the worst government in Chile’s democratic history.”

The right also secured a majority in simultaneous elections to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, according to partial results.

Jara, who served in the administration of outgoing left-wing President Gabriel Boric, struggled to overcome strong anticommunist sentiment in one of Latin America’s most open economies.

Chile has the largest Palestinian population outside the Arab world, and Boric has been critical of Israel amid the Gaza war.

Jara’s win, by a far shorter margin than polls had predicted, was seen as an ominous sign for the second round.

Rodrigo Arellano, an analyst at Chile’s University for Development, said it seemed “unlikely” she could win the December 14 run-off.

The vote is seen as a bellwether of support for South America’s left, which has lost power in Argentina and Bolivia in the past two years, and faces a stiff challenge in Colombian and Brazilian elections next year.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.