Frontrunners in Chile's presidential race offer contrasting futures

A candidate from Chile's Communist Party and a far-right veteran politician are seen as the frontrunners in the country's upcoming November 16 presidential election, analysts say, an illustration of the country's current political polarisation.

Eight candidates are running in total, according to an AFP tally ahead of Monday night's registration deadline, with right-wing politician José Antonio Kast – who has run for the top office twice before – and leftist Jeannette Jara leading the polls. 

Conservative ex-mayor Evelyn Matthei and economist Franco Parisi are currently jockeying for third place. 

Polls show a close race between Kast and Jara, who represent opposite sides of the political spectrum. 

"It's a new stage of polarisation," Mireya Davila, an analyst and academic at the University of Chile, told AFP. 

Kast lost the last presidential runoff in 2021 to leftwing candidate Gabriel Boric, who was elected in the aftermath of 2019's social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Opposite favourites

At the beginning of his campaign, Kast took up the mantle of seeking to crack down on organised crime, pledging "to reclaim each neighbourhood and each public space" while registering his candidacy. 

The 59-year-old's somber and pragmatic nature contrasts with the bombast of South America's other far-right leaders, such as Argentina's Javier Milei and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro. 

Nevertheless, he has promised to create "an emergency government" to "rescue" Chile. 

"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine," he often says at the end of his speeches. 

Jara, Kast's primary opponent, is a 51-year-old lawyer who is running for office for the very first time. 

She entered politics as Chile's labour minister under Boric's administration, overseeing significant labour reforms for the country, such as reducing the standard work week from 45 hours to 40 hours. 

Though affiliated with the Communist Party of Chile, Jara commands a broad coalition that stretches from the far-left to the country's Christian Democrats. 

"The fact that Jara is a Communist could be a barrier, but I don't think it's definitive. The biggest problem with her candidacy is how she will establish herself as the leader of both her party and her supporting coalition," Davila said. 

Jara has insisted on defining herself as the "candidate of the centre-left and not of the Communist Party," citing public differences she has had with the Communist leaders of Cuba and Venezuela.

Fight for third place

Recent polls show Matthei, the former mayor of Santiago commune Providencia, and prominent economist Parisi as vying for third place.

Matthei, 71, has worked in politics the longest out of all the candidates in the field.

She had been leading opinion polls until a few months ago, when she lost momentum to Kast.

"To be on top of the polls for a long time takes its toll," Matthei's campaign spokeswoman Paula Daza told AFP.

Parisi made a surprising splash during the 2021 election by placing third on a campaign entirely conducted on social media, running on a populist message against elitism.

"Chile is not a country of extremes; Chile is moving toward the centre," Parisi said Monday while registering his candidacy.

Among the other potentials in the race are libertarian politician Johannes Kaiser, former Chilean football administrator Harold Mayne-Nicholls, leftist Marco Enríquez-Ominami and far-left candidate Eduardo Artes.