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Security Fears Recast Chile’s Presidential Race as Candidates Close Campaigns

Crime now eclipses the economy in voter concerns, elevating law-and-order pledges across the field.

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

  • Pre-election surveys before Chile’s polling blackout showed Jeannette Jara leading the first round, with a December runoff likely and José Antonio Kast favored to win it.
  • Homicides roughly doubled since 2015 and kidnappings hit a record in 2024, with prosecutors linking a large share to organized crime such as the Tren de Aragua.
  • Jara accused Kast of stoking fear after he spoke behind bulletproof glass, while ultra-right contender Johannes Kaiser closed his campaign with vows to restore the death penalty, pardon police abuses and expel offenders to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
  • Migration from Venezuela surged to about 669,000 by 2024, and Kast proposes a “Border Shield” with walls, trenches and electric fences alongside mass expulsions of undocumented migrants.
  • Sunday’s vote revives compulsory voting for the first time in years, widening the electorate and adding uncertainty as private security use soars alongside public anxiety over crime.