Chile elections: The right wing chooses José Antonio Kast as the favorite against leftist Jeanette Jara for the runoff

The presidential elections in Chile resulted in a runoff, scheduled for December 14. The candidates who advanced are Jeanette Jara, who represents the ruling coalition of the current president, Gabriel Boric, and José Antonio Kast, of the Republican Party. The latter is the favorite to win the presidency, given that among all the right-wing candidates, they totaled more than 50% of the votes.

With more than 90% of the votes counted, Jara obtained 26.8% of the votes, followed by Kast's 24%. Third place went to Franco Parisi, who was the surprise with 19.7%. Behind them were Johannes Kaiser, the libertarian who garnered 13.9%, and Evelyn Matthei, a center-right minister and former minister of the late President Sebastián Piñera, with 12.5%.

Although the right wing was expected to obtain a majority in both chambers, it would only reach it in the Chamber of Deputies. In the Senate, a tie is projected.

Once the results were known, both Kaiser and Matthei officially endorsed Kast. They even went to visit him at his political bunker and appeared alongside the Republican candidate. Parisi, whose discourse is closer to Kast than to Jara, assured that the candidates who made it to the runoff election will have to win over their voters.

"What is clear today is that the opposition defeated a failed government. Our great challenge is to save our country (...) Chile needs us to commit ourselves to a common destiny to help our compatriots move forward. The only adversary we have is continuism, and we are going to defeat this continuism on December 14," Kast said in his post-election speech.

"And here I can also say, perhaps I am not the most likable, I am not the one who dances the best, but I can tell you that I am here because the people of Chile have put me here, together with you. The people of Chile, who, today and also in December, are saying enough is enough. Enough of mediocrity, enough of hatred, enough of doing things wrong," he continued.

In addition, he said that the runoff election "will not be just any election, but the most important of our generation, a true plebiscite between two models of society."

This is Kast's third presidential candidacy, after 2017 and 2021. He often jokes about it in his rallies, repeating the famous saying that "the third time is the charm."

The three "big surprises" of the presidential elections in Chile

To analyze the results, VOZ spoke with Maximiliano Duarte, director of studies at the Fundación Piensa, a Chilean think tank based in Valparaíso, on election night.

Duarte mentioned "three big surprises" left by the first round. The first is the "disappointing" performance of the ruling party's candidate.

"The result is striking because it is even below the approval level of the government itself, which is around 30% in the polls. This performance, in addition, will force the left to a deep reflection on its role since the social outburst of 2019, especially the social democracy, which in recent years was condescending to the most radical left forces and ended up absorbed by the critical narrative towards the '30 years' in which the center-left ruled," he said.

As a second point to highlight, he mentioned the small distance between Jara and Kast, a factor not typically considered by most polls. Finally, there was the great performance of Franco Parisi, especially in the north of the country: "His leadership breaks the traditional cleavage and connects with middle-class sectors based on a discourse focused on merit, on social mobility and appealing to specific problems of certain places that are usually invisible in the public discussion."

"With José Antonio Kast on his way to become president of Chile, the challenge from tomorrow will be to articulate a political project capable of integrating a majority but highly fragmented opposition. If he succeeds, the course of the country will likely change rapidly once the new government is in place on March 11," Duarte concluded.