Jara and Kast to face off in Chile's presidential runoff

The leftist Jeannette Jara and the far-right José Antonio Kast will compete for the presidency of Chile in a second round on December 14, with 52.4% of the votes counted. The result is tighter than pre-election polls had predicted, which gave Jara a victory by over 30%. Jara said that Chile is a country «with a great future and hope» and called for protecting democracy to not put it «at risk» ahead of the second round on December 14. «We are going to Kast's headquarters to congratulate him as it should be,» said the candidate from the «Chile We Go» coalition and small centrist parties. According to preliminary results from the Electoral Service, the former communist minister under Gabriel Boric obtained 26.6% of the vote, while the former far-right Catholic deputy achieved 24.3%. Matthei was the first to concede the results and, in a brief appearance, said she would congratulate Kast in person, though she resisted publicly asking for his support. «Democracy must be cared for and valued. The big surprise of the night is the right-wing populist, Franco Parisi, who, as in the 2021 presidential election, is in third place with 18.4% and a significant advance in the northern mining regions of the country. It cost us a lot to recover it, only for it to be put at risk today,» said Jara. The big losers of the day are the far-right libertarian Johannes Kaiser, whom many polls placed even above Kast, and the representative of the traditional right, Evelyn Matthei, who are practically tied for fourth place.