Chile is preparing for a decisive electoral day this Sunday, where its next president will be defined in a runoff election that pits two figures representing the extremes of the political spectrum against each other: the leftist Jeannette Jara and the far-right José Antonio Kast. Both candidates, hailing from outside the traditional political center that has dominated the country for the last two decades, will compete for the 2026-2030 term in Chile's first mandatory-vote presidential election, which will define the new leader among almost 16 million eligible voters. In the second round, Jeannette Jara, a Communist Party member and backed by the government, narrowly won with 26.8% of the vote, closely followed by José Antonio Kast, founder of the Republican Party, who obtained 23.9% of the preferences. Although polls suggest Kast could secure the top executive position, the second-round campaign has focused on mobilizing undecided voters and capturing the votes of eliminated candidates. The candidates closed their campaigns in strategic cities, reinforcing their key messages. José Antonio Kast, running for a third time, concluded his campaign in Temuco (Araucanía Region), a stronghold where he promotes a hardline stance on the Mapuche conflict. While other candidates like Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei pledged their support to Kast, Parisi avoided automatic alignment, defining his party as 'neither fascist nor communist'. After consulting his voters, 78% of participants opted for a blank or null vote, which, according to analysts like Rodrigo Karmy, makes Parisi a sort of 'third participant' in the runoff, whose volatile voters will be crucial to tipping the scales.
