Overview
- Final surveys indicate no candidate will reach 50% in the eight-person field, setting up a second round next month.
- Jeannette Jara leads pre‑vote polling with roughly 25–30% and is projected to finish first in the opening round.
- The right is split among José Antonio Kast, Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei, with Kast viewed as the likeliest runoff challenger.
- Mandatory voting returns to a presidential contest for the first time since 2012, potentially adding over five million participants as voters also renew the entire lower house and about half the Senate.
- Public debate has centered on security and migration, including concern over transnational gangs such as Tren de Aragua, even as official data show a homicide rate near 6 per 100,000 inhabitants.