Jara and Kast head to second round in Chile's tight presidential race

Former Labour Minister Jeannette Jara of Chile's ruling Communist Party secured a narrow lead against far-right candidate José Antonio Kast in Sunday's first presidential election round.

Jara received 27% of the vote, against Kast's 24%, meaning a runoff will be held on 14 December.

Jara, a former labour minister in incumbent President Gabriel Boric’s left-wing government, faces a challenge ahead of her as the first-round results showed strong support for right-leaning candidates.

Nearly 70% of votes went to right-of-centre candidates, according to the official tally.

Businessman and celebrity economist Franco Parisi performed better than most polls suggested by securing roughly 20% of the vote, finishing third. Like Kast, he ran a strict law and order campaign, vowing to propose reinstalling antitank mines on the northern border to prevent illegal crossing.

Parisi has drawn support from voters who say they feel disconnected from traditional political parties and is not aligned with any political side.

Analysts describe his rhetoric as firmly law-and-order focused: he has used hardline language in speeches, calling for using the army to tackle security, which was the central issue of this campaign.

Another 14% of the votes went to Johannes Kaiser, a libertarian congressman and a former YouTube pundit, positioning himself further to the right than Kast. Analysts have drawn comparisons between his proposals and those of Argentina's Javier Milei, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele.

Kaiser publicly advocated restoring or reintroducing the death penalty for certain crimes and has called on Chile to withdraw from several international conventions on climate or human rights issues.

Chile’s traditional centre-right coalition landed in fifth place, with establishment candidate Evelyn Matthei winning around 12% of the vote.

There were no other left-wing front-runners, as all six parties in Chile's governing coalition threw their weight behind Jara.

Kaiser and Matthei both signalled support for Kast or leaned towards it, but Parisi said “the burden of proof lies with both candidates,” adding, “They have to win people over.”

Not all of the divided right is guaranteed to go to Kast. Several Kaiser and Matthei voters interviewed at polling stations on Sunday said they would refuse to support Kast, citing his strongly conservative platform.

Facing an uphill runoff against a strengthened right, Jara has adopted some more moderate positions.