Polling stations open for the second round of presidential elections in Chile

MADRID, December 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –

This Sunday at 8 a.m. (12 p.m. Spanish peninsular time), the polling stations opened for the second round of the presidential election in Chile, in which the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast and the official left-wing candidate Jeannette Jara will face off.

Polling stations will remain open until 6:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. Spanish Peninsula time) and, as in the first round, voting is obligatory according to law for the more than 15 million registered Chileans.

So far, 132,000 requests for excuses have been submitted to the Virtual Police Station to justify the absence and thus avoid the fine, according to the authorities, who recall that among the justified reasons there is the fact of being more than 200 kilometers from the table assigned for voting.

Jara was the first to make statements to the press this Sunday and expressed her “calm and optimism” regarding the vote. “I have done all the harm that had to be done. It is now a matter of waiting for the voice of the Chileans,” he declared, according to the radio station Radio Biobío.

He also said he was preparing because if he wins, “we will have to get to work quickly on the teams.” So, he has already prepared three speeches for the evening, when the results are known. “The main thing is what we feel and think and that is only one thing: we will win,” he stressed.

Jara, 51, was the most voted option in the first round on November 16 with 26.9 percent of the vote, but his rival Kast (23.93 percent) plans to count on the support of the three other right-wing candidates after receiving their explicit support.