“Democracy spoke loud and clear,” Jara wrote on social media platform X, noting that she had communicated with the elected President, the ultraconservative Kast, to wish him success for the good of Chile.
Preliminary official results based on approximately 76% of the ballots counted show Kast, a 59-year-old lawyer, with a significant lead, securing 58.30% of the votes compared to Jara’s 41.70%. Jara, a moderate communist, represents a broad leftist coalition.
Kast was favored in polls for the presidential runoff and will become the next President of Chile, marking the first time since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship 35 years ago that a far-right candidate has reached this position in the Latin American country.
Polling stations began to close at 6:00 PM local time (9:00 PM Lisbon), paving the way for vote counting after a day characterized by long lines for this mandatory election. Nearly 16 million voters were called to choose between the two candidates.
In his third attempt to become Chile’s head of state, Kast, a practicing Catholic and father of nine, campaigned with promises to combat crime and deport nearly 340,000 undocumented immigrants, most of whom are Venezuelan.
His opponent, Jeannette Jara, 51, former Minister of Labor under outgoing President Gabriel Boric, pledged to raise the minimum wage and protect pensions.
In the first round of voting in mid-November, both candidates received about a quarter of the votes each, with a slight advantage for the left. However, together, the right-wing candidates amassed 70% of the total.
Platform with Lusa
