Chilean elections see far-right candidate José Antonio Kast gaining ground amid rising crime fears and promises of mass deportations and border walls
SANTIAGO: Chileans voted Sunday in elections dominated by rising crime and immigration, fueling far-right calls for an “iron fist” approach and Donald Trump-style deportation threats.
Polling stations opened at 8:00 am with voters having eight hours to elect a president and parliamentary members.
Results are expected within two hours of polls closing at 4:00 pm.
Polls show left-wing candidate Jeannette Jara, a 51-year-old communist, leading in the first round.
However, far-right leader José Antonio Kast is projected to win December’s runoff election.
A sharp increase in murders, kidnappings and extortion over the past decade has created fear in traditionally safe Chile.
“We need someone who shows an iron fist,” said Jacqueline Ruz, a 56-year-old Kast supporter at his final Santiago rally.
Kast, running for president for the third time, told supporters “Third time lucky!”
The election serves as a crucial test for South America’s left, which has suffered defeats in Argentina and Bolivia.
Outgoing President Gabriel Boric has reduced murder rates by 10% since 2022 to 6 per 100,000 people.
Chileans remain concerned about criminal violence they attribute to gangs from Venezuela and other Latin American nations.
Dubbed “Chile’s Trump,” Kast promises to end illegal migration by building walls and trenches along the Bolivian border.
Former YouTube polemicist Johannes Kaiser has positioned himself further right than Kast in the campaign.
The 49-year-old libertarian has drawn comparisons to Argentina’s Javier Milei for his radical state-downsizing proposals.
Conservative former minister Evelyn Matthei has struggled to distinguish herself in the rightward-shifting race.
Jara faces significant challenges overcoming anti-communist sentiment and disappointment with Boric’s administration.
Boric defeated Kast in 2021 promising a welfare state after mass inequality protests.
His presidency weakened after voters rejected a progressive new constitution early in his term.
Jara campaigns as a moderate reformer who will help Chilean families “easily make it to the end of the month.”
“Bread is very expensive, sugar is expensive, tea is expensive, fruit is expensive,” said 76-year-old Mireya Ortiz, explaining her support for Jara.
Kast would become Chile’s first far-right leader since Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship if elected.
The son of a German Nazi soldier has defended Pinochet, whose regime killed thousands of dissidents.
Voting is compulsory for the first time since 2012, adding nearly 5 million people to the electorate.
Voters also elected members to the Chamber of Deputies and half of the Senate. – AFP
