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Jara Leads First Round as Chile Sets Dec. 14 Runoff Against Kast

Right-wing gains in Congress mean the next president will face an opposition-controlled legislature.

Overview

  • The Electoral Service’s preliminary tally put Jeannette Jara near 26.6% to José Antonio Kast’s roughly 24%, leaving both short of the 50% needed to win outright.
  • Chile will hold the runoff on December 14 under new rules that made voting compulsory with automatic registration.
  • Provisional legislative returns indicate right-leaning blocs are on track to control both chambers, with reported counts pointing to about 29 of 50 senators and roughly 78 of 155 deputies.
  • Kast secured endorsements for the runoff from Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei, while Franco Parisi withheld an endorsement.
  • Jara, a former labor minister in Gabriel Boric’s government and a longtime Communist Party figure, leads a left coalition into a rare runoff as campaigns center on security, migration and the economy.