Chile Holds Presidential and Parliamentary Elections

In addition to the presidential election, Chile is also holding parliamentary elections this Sunday to choose 155 deputies and 23 of the 55 senators. In this election, the right-wing parties are the favorites, and the outcome will be crucial for the country's future governability. Most polls published before the pre-election blackout show that Jara will win this Sunday, but without enough votes to secure the presidency in the first round, necessitating a second-round runoff on December 14. More than 15.6 million people are called to the polls, marking the first presidential election with compulsory voting since the return to democracy. They will choose among eight candidates, with the leftist Jeannette Jara, a former communist minister in Boric's government, as the frontrunner. Polls also indicate that Jara would have little chance of winning the presidency if the far-right and traditional right were to unite in the runoff. Their candidate, Evelyn Matthei, was the frontrunner for months but fell to fourth place. If the three right-wing parties unite in the second round, as all analysts predict, Jara, the first candidate representing the entire left and center-left in a presidential election and who was chosen in open citizen primaries this past June, would have slim chances of coming to power. Since 2006, power has alternated between the left and the right, and no president has handed over the presidential sash to a successor of the same political sign. The campaign has been marked by an increase in crime and the perception of insecurity in a country that remains one of the safest in the region, and by the fatigue of a population exhausted by successive electoral processes since the massive protests of 2019. Following Matthei is the populist economist Franco Parisi, who already caused a surprise by placing third in the past elections. On one side is the ultracatholic lawyer and father of nine, José Antonio Kast, who is running for a third time to reach La Moneda after losing to Boric in 2021 and who has sought to appear more moderate in this campaign. On the other, libertarian deputy Johannes Kaiser has emerged strongly in these elections, leading a more radical far-right that assures it «has no fear» to wage the so-called «cultural battle». A total of 3,498 polling stations opened their doors this Sunday to begin the presidential and parliamentary elections in Chile, where the successor to progressive Gabriel Boric will be chosen and the Parliament will be renewed. The great unknown is who will advance to the second-round runoff, as many polls indicate a tight race between two far-right candidates.