Chileans will choose their president for the next four years in Sunday’s runoff election between conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast and communist former minister Jeannette Jara.
Local polls indicate that Kast is poised to become the next president, ushering a new conservative presidency in Chile after four years under outgoing far-left President Gabriel Boric. The winner will succeed Boric once his current term ends in March 2026.
Chile held the first round of its 2025 presidential election in November as part of broader general elections. At the time, eight candidates ran for president. Jara obtained 26.8 percent of the votes and Kast 23.9 percent. As neither candidate obtained more than half of the votes — required to win in the first round — they headed off towards Sunday’s runoff.
Although Jara, who ran as the left’s candidate, won the most votes in the first round, that election saw eight different candidates competing after Chilean conservative and other right-wing sectors failed to reach a consensus towards a primary. As a result, Kast was not the only conservative candidate on the ballot in November. Conservative politician Evelyn Matthei and libertarian Congressman Johannes Kaiser joined Kast and Jara as the four topmost candidates in the then-eight man race.
Both Kast and Jara wrapped up their campaigns on Thursday, hours before the start of a presently active nationwide electoral silence period ahead of Sunday. The final round of polls, released during the last week of November, all indicated that Kast is slated to win the election. Chilean market research company Cadem forecast that Kast will secure 58 percent of the vote and Jara 42 percent.
As per the terms of Chilean electoral law, no new 2025 presidential runoff polls may be published in the country on or after November 30. Voting in the election is compulsory for all Chileans under penalty of a fine, and individuals must present a valid form of identification to be eligible to vote, such as a national identification card or passport.
Kast, a lawyer, former lawmaker, and leader of the Chilean Republican Party, is running in the runoff under the “Change for Chile” banner, a coalition composed of the Republican, Christian Social, and National Libertarian parties. He closed his campaign in the city of Temuco in Araucanía, Chile’s main agricultural region. This election marks the third time Kast has run for president after unsuccessful attempts in 2021 and 2017. In 2021, although he won in the first round, he ultimately lost to Boric.
Biobio Chile reported that the conservative candidate presented his team and sternly criticized Boric’s outgoing government during his speech. Kast also thanked Kaiser for granting him his support in the runoff and thanked Matthei for pledging to support his prospective conservative government.
“It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be tough, they’re going to try to stop us from doing certain things. But we’re going to be playing for Chile’s future there. We must maintain this unity the day after,” Kast told his followers.
“We have had our differences. We have all made mistakes, but we are clear that what Chile is experiencing today is an emergency, a total crisis that requires us to unite to face the disaster, the poor work, the ineptitude, and the ineffectiveness of the current government. Chile comes first,” he said at another point of his speech.
Kast promised throughout his campaign that, if elected, he would enact an “emergency” crackdown on Chile’s growing crime and drug trafficking problems, curb illegal migration, and carry out mass deportations of illegal migrants. Kast reiterated his promises and warned illegal migrants presently in Chile that they have “90 days” to leave the country if they ever want to return to the country legally.
“People who are currently breaking the law, who are in Chile illegally, have 90 days to leave the country if they ever want to return. This is not a threat,” Kast said. “In other words, you have 90 days to comply with the law. If you comply and leave, you will be able to apply once again to enter our country.”
“To those who are fleeing justice, we say the same thing: turn yourselves in before we become the government, because every penny we spend looking for you, you will pay for in prison,” he continued. “You will answer for every moment you made our police spend looking for you, for every police officer who died when they went to try to arrest you.”
“Thank you Temuco and to the great team that accompanied me in this great campaign,” Kast wrote on social media. “This Sunday we are going to win and on Monday we are going to start working tirelessly to recover and rebuild Chile. Long Live Chile!”
Jara is running under the banner of “Unity for Chile,” a coalition of several leftist parties that form part of President Boric’s administration. She closed her campaign on Thursday at the city of Coquimbo, Elqui. In her speech, the outlet Emol detailed, she called for defending the social and labor rights that “were conquered” throughout the current leftist administration, which she formed part of as labor minister. According to Jara, those rights would come to an end under a prospective Kast administration.
“It has taken us a lot to move forward, and here there are entire generations who have been fighting to get ahead, to have their rights recognized, to get ahead in life,” she declared. “And that is what we will do in my government: grow strongly, but with growth that reaches the tables of all Chileans. And may it be sustainable with the environment, which is our treasure and what we will leave to future generations.”
“Some would have us believe that Chile is a country where resources are scarce. But I want to tell you that Chile is a country that produces abundant fruit, and my goal is for every Chilean family to have a piece of that fruit,” she asserted in another part of her speech, according to BioBio Chile.
Jara promised throughout her campaign that, if elected, she will call for an increase in the minimum wage, pension reforms, and the “right to free, safe, and legal abortion.” The former minister, a longtime member of the Chilean communist party, claimed this week that she would resign from the party if elected president, reasoning that, “the President of Chile must be above political parties, and I think it’s a good gesture.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
