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Chile Votes Under Mandatory Turnout as Polls Point to December Runoff

Jeannette Jara leads a fragmented field, with right-wing rivals José Antonio Kast and Johannes Kaiser dividing conservative support.

Presidential candidates for the upcoming general elections are seen on TV screens during a debate in a hall of Televisión Nacional de Chile in Santiago, Chile, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Electoral workers prepare the old Mapocho train station, now a cultural center, to be used as a polling station for the general election in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Soldiers patrol the National Stadium, which will be used as a polling station during Sunday's general elections, in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
An electoral worker prepares demonstration ballots inside the old Mapocho train station that is now a cultural center to be used as a polling station for the general election in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Overview

  • Roughly 15.7 million Chileans are required to cast ballots, with fines for abstention and an estimated five million mostly young first-time voters adding uncertainty.
  • Pre‑election surveys put Jara near 30% with Kast around 22% and Kaiser in the high teens, indicating no first‑round majority and a likely December 14 runoff.
  • Public anxiety over crime and migration dominated the campaign as frustration with the Boric government approached 70% disapproval in recent polling.
  • Kast emphasized a hardline security agenda and campaigned behind armored glass and a bulletproof vest, while Kaiser proposed mass expulsions of undocumented migrants and other far‑right measures.
  • All 155 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 23 of 50 Senate seats are also being contested, positioning the new Congress as pivotal for the next president’s agenda.