Chileans choose between far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast and leftist Jeannette Jara in a presidential runoff focused on crime and security
SANTIAGO: Chileans are electing a new president on Sunday in a stark runoff choice between the most right-wing candidate in 35 years of democracy and the head of a broad leftist coalition.
Nearly 16 million citizens can cast their ballot between father-of-nine Jose Antonio Kast and his rival Jeannette Jara, a longstanding member of the Communist Party.
Polls show Kast as the strong front-runner, with his tough-on-crime and anti-migrant message seemingly registering with voters.
“The country is falling apart,” the 59-year-old Kast has claimed on the campaign trail, often speaking from behind bulletproof glass.
Once one of the safest and most prosperous countries in the Americas, Chile has been hit hard in recent years by the COVID-19 pandemic, violent social protests, and an influx of foreign organised crime.
Kast is far to the right of most Chileans on many issues.
But voters fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule say they will vote for change, despite misgivings.
Kast has vowed to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants, opposed abortion without exceptions, and voiced support for the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Security is the priority for 44-year-old Santiago housewife Ursula Villalobos, who plans to vote for Kast.
“What’s important is that people can leave their homes without fear and return at night without worrying that something will happen to them on street corners,” she told AFP.
“Given the extreme situation we’re in right now, if we have to take somewhat extreme measures at the beginning to achieve a peaceful country later on, then yes, I would be willing to do that.”
Polls show more than 60% of Chileans think security is the top issue facing the country, far eclipsing the economy, healthcare, or education.
While statistics show violent crime has risen in the last ten years, fears about crime have risen even faster.
Kast’s hardline positions have also brought fears he will edge Chile back toward the bad old days of a dictatorship that killed or disappeared more than 3,000 citizens.
“I’m fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression,” said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, who said she would not vote for Kast “under no circumstances.”
“The candidate of the right reminds me a lot of the dictatorship. I lived through the dictatorship. I was young, but I lived through it, suffered through it.”
“I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform,” she said, comparing Kast to the former military ruler.
Pinochet left power in 1990 after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum.
As a university student, Kast campaigned for the pro-Pinochet vote.
Media investigations have revealed that Kast’s German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.
Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.
Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered 70% of the vote.
In a head-to-head race, polls show Kast winning by more than ten percentage points.
Jara’s time as labour minister in the government of President Gabriel Boric has proven to be an Achilles’ heel.
The 39-year-old president’s four-year term has been crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.
Being tied to the ruling party is almost a kiss of death in Chilean politics.
Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left and right governments at every presidential election.
Voting is compulsory for the first time in more than a decade at this election.
Polls opened at 8am Santiago time (1100 GMT). – AFP
