Crime, migration and reminiscence of dictatorship form Chile’s presidential runoff : NPR

SANTIAGO, Chile — Folks might be confronted with a alternative between far-right José Antonio Kast, a profession politician operating for the presidency for a 3rd time – the overwhelming favourite based on polls – and left-wing Jeannette Jara, a Communist Occasion member and former labor minister.

With the candidates on supply so starkly opposed of their visions for Chile, many might be casting their votes for a candidate they do not really feel wholly represents them in an election through which participation is obligatory.

At a closing rally within the southern metropolis of Temuco on Thursday night, Kast gave a prolonged speech, restating the core themes of his marketing campaign to a crowd of a number of thousand, a lot of them younger males waving Chilean flags.

Guttural cries of “Communists out!” rose among the many crowd, however the loudest cheers have been reserved for mentions of deporting migrants and the mass imprisonment of criminals.

“I am voting for Kast due to his safety agenda,” mentioned Benjamín Sandoval, an 18-year-old pupil voting for the primary time.”The nation may be very unsafe, you may’t even exit after 10pm today. They might assault you, and it is the migrants who’re doing it most.”

Throughout the nation, a exceptional concern of crime has gripped individuals like by no means earlier than, fueled, partially, by intense media focus.

Supporters of Chile’s presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast wave flags earlier than the beginning of his closing marketing campaign rally in Temuco, Chile, on Dec. 11, 2025.

EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP through Getty Pictures

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EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP through Getty Pictures

In a 2024 Gallup international security report, Chile ranked sixth out of 144 international locations for concern of strolling alone at night time, regardless of being among the many most secure nations in Latin America.

Though violent crime has all the time been current in Chile, it has ticked up considerably during the last 4 years, with homicides spiking in 2023. However not too long ago the variety of murders has begun to fall once more.

Unlawful migration has additionally been pushed up the general public agenda, primarily on account of an inflow of tons of of 1000’s of arrivals fleeing financial collapse in Venezuela since 2018.

Far-right Kast, a Catholic father-of-nine, has capitalized on these fears.
He’s the son of Michael Kast, a German soldier and Nazi Occasion member who emigrated to Chile in December 1950. He later established a meat-processing manufacturing unit in Buin, a quiet city south of the capital, the place he additionally helped construct six church buildings. José Antonio’s brother, Miguel, went on to grow to be a outstanding minister throughout Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Kast himself is an ardent supporter of the legacy of the dictatorship, underneath which tens of 1000’s of individuals have been tortured, murdered or disappeared, and minimize his tooth in pupil politics campaigning in favor of Normal Pinochet in a divisive 1988 plebiscite on the continuation of his rule.

However on this marketing campaign, Kast, chief of the far-right Partido Republicano (Republican Occasion), has rigorously steered away from the controversial points that damage his earlier presidential bids in 2017 and 2021, together with his opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

The one glimpse of his lifelong ethical agenda was a fleeting response in a televised debate: “I am the identical man I’ve all the time been,” he answered.

His marketing campaign has talked about little else past public safety and migration, however he has proposed chopping company tax and slashing the general public finances by $6 billion inside his first 18 months in workplace. However he has refused to say how that may be achieved past the mass dismissal of public workers employed throughout leftwing President Gabriel Boric’s time in workplace.

An individual picks out lapel pins of Chile’s presidential candidate Jeannette Jara, of the Unidad por Chile coalition, forward of her closing marketing campaign rally in Santiago on Dec.10, 2025.

RAUL BRAVO/AFP through Getty Pictures

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RAUL BRAVO/AFP through Getty Pictures

Kast’s opponent in tomorrow’s vote might hardly be extra completely different.

Jeannette Jara, 51, served as an undersecretary in Michelle Bachelet’s authorities earlier than turning into labor minister underneath present President Gabriel Boric. In that function, she led well-liked pension reform efforts, oversaw will increase within the nationwide minimal wage, and helped cut back the size of the working week.

Like Boric, Jara was a pupil chief having joined the youth wing of Chile’s Communist Occasion on the age of 14. Since 2015, she has been a part of its central committee.

Her marketing campaign focuses on affordability, together with a common core revenue of about $800 a month funded by means of gradual minimum-wage will increase, decrease electrical energy payments, and state financial savings contributions to assist 25- to 40-year-olds purchase properties.

As Jara ready for her closing rally in Santiago, Roxana Muñoz, a 58-year-old cashier, spoke over a band taking part in cueca, Chile’s nationwide dance, as lights danced on the timber in a small park chosen for the occasion.

“I might by no means vote for a person who speaks so badly about girls, he thinks we’re simply right here to procreate,” Muñoz mentioned. “I completely determine with Jara.”

But when polling holds, Kast is poised to win, turning into Chile’s most right-wing chief since Pinochet’s dictatorship led to 1990.

A win for Kast would even be seen as a part of a wider pattern throughout the area: Bolivia ousted socialists who had ruled for practically twenty years, Argentina’s La Libertad Avanza scored a decisive victory in legislative elections that expanded President Javier Milei’s affect in Congress, and Ecuador re-elected center-right Daniel Noboa.