Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party since her teens, will face José Antonio Kast, a socially conservative Catholic, in a run-off.
Chile is facing a presidential run-off between a member of the Communist Party and a conservative candidate.
Jeannette Jara, 51, the communist former labor minister and candidate of Chile’s governing coalition, achieved 26.8 percent of the ballot with almost all votes counted.
José Antonio Kast, 59, a Catholic former lawmaker opposed to same-sex marriage and abortion, achieved close to 24 percent of the vote after standing on a platform to restore law and order to the nation, which has seen a recent surge in organized crime and illegal immigration.
With both frontrunners failing to pass the required 50 percent threshold to secure victory in the first round, a showdown between the political left and right has been set up for December’s run-off.
Kast Expected to Benefit
After the result became known, Kast urged the different factions of the political right to unite in support of him, framing the run-off as an existential struggle for the future of Chile. He is expected to benefit in the second round from a large percentage of votes that went to three eliminated conservative candidates, who made similar pledges around border control.
“It will be the most important election of our generation, a true referendum between two models of society—the current one that has led Chile to destruction, stagnation, violence, and our model, which promotes freedom, hope, and progress,” he told a crowd of supporters.
In the capital city of Santiago, Jara told her supporters, “This is a great country. Don’t let fear freeze your hearts.”
Kast, who has expressed admiration for Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro as well as U.S. President Donald Trump, has pledged to deport tens of thousands of undocumented migrants and to construct hundreds of kilometers of ditches and walls along Chile’s northern border with Bolivia to prevent people from entering the country illegally, with particular attention to those moving from Venezuela.
Many of those who voted for Kast have expressed their support for taking back control of the country’s borders.
“We want change, and that change today is about security,” said José Hernández, who owns an agricultural company, after voting for Kast.
