Chile begins vote for its future after Gabriel Boric with immigration and crime as key issues

Chileans have begun to go to the polls to vote on the future of the country without Gabriel Boric. With immigration and crime as key points, two candidates open as the favorites to replace the leftist leader: communist Jeannette Jara and right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast, closely followed in the polls by libertarian Johannes Kaiser.

The latest polls also point out that none of them would get enough votes to avoid a runoff on Dec. 14. On this day, the totality of the Chamber of Deputies and half of the Senate will also be elected.

The upturn in crime in recent years has given momentum to Kast, who promises mass deportations and a tough-on-crime policy.

Homicides rose 140% in Chile in the last decade

Homicides increased 140% in the last decade, going from a rate of 2.5 to 6 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the government. Meanwhile, last year the prosecutor's office reported 868 kidnappings, 76% more than in 2021.

These figures made Jara change course. Boric's former labor minister, 51, anticipated that she will not have "any complex in terms of security," but that she will also guarantee that Chileans have "the security to make ends meet."

One of her plans against organized crime is the lifting of bank secrecy to attack their finances.

Mass deportations, "border shield" and more firepower for the police

Kast, 59, who is running for the presidency for the third time, focused on the 337,000 illegal immigrants in the country, mostly Venezuelans. His message came amid the commotion caused by Tren de Aragua, the fearsome Venezuelan-born gang involved in kidnapping, extortion and other crimes that has spread its operations throughout South America.

Kast, who has linked rising crime to illegal immigration, promised mass deportations and a "border shield" to curb the entry of undocumented foreigners, including metal fences and ditches. "Start thinking about what you are going to do in the future, because there are not going to be massive regularizations," warned the right-wing leader.

In addition, Kast assured that he will increase the firepower of the police and that he will send them together with the military to the critical points of insecurity in the cities.

Kaiser: Deportations and sending illegals with criminal records to El Salvador

The third in contention, Johannes Kaiser, a 49-year-old congressman, took the most radical stance against migrants without legal status. Apart from expelling them all, he threatens to send those with criminal records to the maximum security prison created in El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele for gang members.

Although Jara comes out ahead in some preliminary surveys, polls project that he would lose in an eventual runoff, "with any of the opposition candidates," according to Rodrigo Arellano, analyst at the Universidad del Desarrollo.