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3w ago

Crime and Migration Fears Define Chile’s Presidential Vote as Campaigns Close

Compulsory voting returns for the first time in over a decade, widening the electorate in a race that analysts describe as unpredictable.

FILE - Police stand guard before a press conference on the extradition of "Tren de Aragua" gang members to the U.S., at a high-security prison where they are being held in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
FILE - Chilean Investigative Police officers raid a home as part of an anti-kidnapping operation in efforts to combat ransom kidnappings by organized crime groups, in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
People wait for their bus as Investigative Police officers (PDI) work the scene in a women's bathroom where an abandoned deceased baby was found at the Iquique bus terminal, as Chileans head into the November 16 presidential election amid fears over crime, immigration and organized gangs, in Iquique, October 28, 2025. REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza
Karim Zahri, head of bodyguards for the protection company Allvip, gets into a car in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Overview

  • Public safety has overtaken all other concerns, with an Ipsos survey showing 63% of Chileans naming crime as their top worry and official data recording a murder rate of 6.0 per 100,000 in 2024 and a record 868 kidnappings, 40% tied to organized crime.
  • Jeannette Jara leads first‑round polling while far‑right José Antonio Kast is viewed in surveys as a favorite in a likely December 14 runoff, under a pre‑election polling blackout that leaves late shifts unmeasured.
  • Kast campaigns on mass expulsions and a “Border Shield” that includes a 5‑meter wall, as ultra‑right Johannes Kaiser closes his campaign with vows to reinstate the death penalty, pardon police convicted of abuses, and deport offenders to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
  • Jara accuses the right of stoking fear after Kast spoke behind bulletproof glass at a rally, while she pledges to tackle insecurity without rolling back democratic rights.
  • Rising fear linked to transnational gangs such as Tren de Aragua has reshaped daily life and politics, driving a boom in private security and prompting state measures including a new Security Ministry, specialized anti‑crime units and tougher laws.