The leftist and the far-right will compete for the Presidency of Chile in a second round on December 14, after neither of them obtained 50% plus one of the votes in elections that were closer than what the polls predicted and with a record participation of 85%.
With almost all of the votes counted, the former Minister of Labor of the current Government won with 26.8% – by just over 340,000 votes – over the ultra-Catholic lawyer, who obtained 23.9%.
Below are the keys to an election that has been marked by the discussion around the increase in insecurity and irregular migration and in which the big surprise has come from the right-wing populist Franco Parisi, who came third (19.5%) and whose votes will be key in the runoff.
Jara, bittersweet victory
Despite winning the first round, it was a bittersweet night for Jara, the only progressive candidate and the first communist activist to represent the sector in a presidential election.
Her victory was closer than the polls predicted and she herself acknowledged in her speech that “the challenges are immense” and assured that “from tomorrow” she will go out to listen to almost half of the Chileans who did not vote for her or for Kast.
Although in the campaign he has tried to distance himself from Boric, Jara has the challenge of increasing the support of the Government – whose approval does not exceed 30% – and of reversing the so-called “Chilean pendulum”, since since 2006 no president has given the presidential sash to a successor of the same political sign.
“Do not let fear freeze your hearts (…) Those who divide us and sow hatred are doing very bad business for the future of Chile”
“Do not let fear freeze your hearts (…) Those who divide us and sow hatred are doing very bad business for the future of Chile,” said the 51-year-old lawyer, who was almost unknown before entering the Government and leading the approval of some key reforms, such as pensions or the increase in the minimum wage.
For Rodrigo Espinoza, from the Diego Portales University (UDP), “Jara has a very uphill scenario”: “The public discussion revolves around migration, economy and security, uncomfortable topics for the left and, even, in a scenario in which all of Parisi’s voters went with Jara, it would not be enough,” he added to EFE.
Kast, third time the charm?
Several of the last polls before the presidential election showed a considerable drop in Kast’s support and even a tie with another more radical far-right, the libertarian Johannes Kaiser, something that ultimately did not happen.
The former deputy and leader of the Republican Party, who is competing for the third time in La Moneda and lost against Boric in the second round of 2021, ran a single-issue campaign around the increase in crime and irregular migration and avoided speaking in public about his ultra-conservative convictions regarding individual freedoms, as well as his defense of the dictatorship.
In his speech, Kast assured that this Sunday “Chile did wake up”, alluding to the mythical phrase that marked the massive protests of 2019.
“After six years of violence, of ideology, of mediocrity, today millions of Chileans have decided to embrace a project that is the opposition to this failed Government,” said the ultra, admirer of and.
Kast already has the votes of Kaiser and the representative of the traditional right, former mayor Evelyn Matthei, who was blurred in fifth place, as has happened to the liberal right in other countries where ultras grow: “Third time’s the charm!” she cried in her speech.
Parisi, “neither facho nor commune”
It was the surprise of the 2021 presidential elections, when he came third with almost 13% of the votes with a campaign carried out practically from abroad and through social networks, and the populist economist has once again challenged the polls, revalidating third place this Sunday, with 19.6%.
With the motto “Neither facho, nor comunacho”, the leader of the People’s Party (PDG) proposed in the campaign measures as diverse as the elimination of VAT on medicines or the celebration of a massive “tuning” (modified cars) if La Moneda won.
Winner in the northern mining provinces, Parisi asked for a vote for Kast four years ago but this time he said that “he will not sign blank checks to anyone” and urged both Jara and Kast to “earn” their votes.
“These elections have shown a profound rejection of politics. Parisi was underrepresented in the polls and is the candidate who best represents institutional anti-politics. Earning his vote will not be easy,” Claudia Heiss, from the University of Chile, told EFE.
Parallel legislative
Chile held this Sunday, in parallel, parliamentary elections to renew the entire Chamber of Deputies and part of the Senate. In these elections, Kast’s Republicans achieved considerable progress in both chambers, which could grant broad governability to an eventual far-right government. The Chilean opposition, adds EFE, failed in its attempt to take control of the Senate and Parliament and Parisi’s populism will act as a hinge.
With nearly 15.7 million Chileans called to the polls, the country elected 23 new senators – out of a total of 50 – in seven of the 16 regions of the national territory, as well as the 155 deputies who will completely renew the Lower House, this time with less fragmentation than that observed in 2021.
Although there are no majority forces that can impose their agendas in the parliamentary discussion, the extreme right grew the most in both chambers according to the preliminary results published by the Electoral Service: in the Senate it went from one to six, and in the Chamber of Deputies it grew from 15 to 42 representatives, with the Republican Party adding 32 seats, the National Libertarian Party of Johannes Kaiser seven and the Christian Social Party three.
The traditional right-wing coalition, which suffered a huge setback, was left with just 32 seats, the same as the Republican Party, led by presidential candidate José Antonio Kast.
The PDG, – whose presidential candidate Franco Parisi obtained a surprising third place in the first round with 19.7% -, although it did not obtain seats in the Senate, will play a key role in the legislature, where it went from six to fourteen representatives who will be necessary to approve or stop any initiative.
With 88.1% of the tables counted, the right and the extreme right control 25 seats in the Senate (50%), while the ruling party obtained 23 positions, plus two independents who have voted with both the right and the progressivism in various bills.
The Lower House, for its part, was made up of 64 progressive and left-wing parliamentarians, 76 from the right and 14 PDG militants, a formation that votes on both sides of the political spectrum depending on the bill in question.
