"Jose Antonio Kast, 59, an ultra-conservative former congressman who has built his campaign on a promise to expel tens of thousands of undocumented migrants, faces Jeannette Jara, 51, a former labour minister under the current centre-left president, Gabriel Boric, 39. Jara finished the first round ahead, with 26.9% to 23.9%, but while she was the unified candidate of a leftwing coalition, rightwing contenders, including Kast, together took more than half of the votes."
"One novelty in this election, however, has led analysts to urge caution in calling his victory: for the first time in more than a decade, voting is once again compulsory. In past elections, about a third of the country's 15 million voters did not usually take part. These 5 million people are more distrustful of politics, said Claudia Heiss, a political scientist at the Universidad de Chile,"
Jose Antonio Kast, 59, an ultra-conservative former congressman, built his campaign on expelling tens of thousands of undocumented migrants and pledged a border wall. Jeannette Jara, 51, a former labour minister, led the first round with 26.9% to Kast’s 23.9% but rightwing candidates collectively secured over half the vote. Kast is the son of a Nazi party member, admires Augusto Pinochet, and opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. Compulsory voting returned for the first time in over a decade, adding about five million previously disengaged voters who are more distrustful of politics. Economist Franco Parisi drew surprising support as an outsider.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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