Chileans go to the polls this Sunday (December 14, 2025), in a country that has been polarized between the most right-wing candidate since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship 35 years ago. José Antonio Kast has a large lead in the opinion polls over Jeannette Jara, candidate of the left-wing government coalition and member of the Communist Party. The election winner will take office on March 11, 2026.
The polls show the favorite is Kast, a 59-year-old lawyer, devout Catholic and father of nine who promises to deport nearly 340,000 illegal migrants, most of them Venezuelans, and fight crime head on. “The country is falling apart,” Kast repeats again and again on his third attempt to become president as the candidate of the Republican Party, which he founded five years ago, because the traditional right seemed very soft to him.
Pinochet supporter versus moderate communist
Kast, who supported the military dictatorship and assured that if Pinochet were still alive he would vote for him, was born into a family of German immigrants. His father, a member of the Bavarian NSDAP, moved to Chile after World War II and later founded a meat and sausage factory.
Her rival is the moderate communist Jeannette Jara, a 51-year-old lawyer from a humble background and former labor minister who promises to raise the minimum wage and defend pensions. In the first round of voting on November 16, Jara won almost 27% of the vote. Kast came in second with 24%, but managed to mobilize voters for the other right-wing candidates.
Uncertainty is at the heart of the campaign
The issue of crime dominates the election campaign, even though Chile is one of the safest countries in Latin America. Kast promised “security” in his final campaign. Migration has also gained prominence on the political agenda, driven by the influx of people fleeing violence and poverty in Venezuela. Migrants currently make up about 10% of the Chilean population.
However, experts point out that the feeling of fear in Chile is much greater than the actual crime figures suggest. “The important thing, more than social benefits, is work and security. That people can leave their house without fear and return at night without fearing that something will happen to them on the corner,” Úrsula Villalobos, a 44-year-old housewife who will vote for Kast, told AFP. “You have to take somewhat more extreme measures first in order to achieve a calm country later,” he adds.
The so-called social outbreak “was very protracted and very traumatic,” which, in addition to the crisis due to the pandemic, gave rise to “a movement towards conservatism,” explains political scientist Claudia Heiß to the same agency. In addition, the reintroduction of compulsory voting will result in five million new voters, “with a very pronounced tendency towards the right and right-wing extremist,” he noted.
LGC (dpa, afp)
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