Communist vs Catholic: Chile prepares to choose a new president

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A journalist watches the debate between Chile's presidential candidates Jose Antonio Kast of the Partido Republicano party and Jeannette Jara, of the Unidad por Chile coalition, at the National Television Association headquarters in Santiago, on December 9, 2025. — AFP pic

SANTIAGO, Dec 10 — Chile votes in a presidential runoff Sunday between two sharply different candidates: Jeannette Jara, a communist backed by a broad left coalition, and Jose Antonio Kast, a devout far-right politico promising a hard line on security and migration.

Jara led the first round on November 16, but polls suggest Kast, who heads the Republican Party, could win by rallying masses of conservative voters.

Iron fist? 

In previous presidential campaigns, 59-year-old Kast defended Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship and opposed abortion, divorce and same-sex marriage.

This time round the married father of nine presents himself as a pragmatic democrat, distancing his style from more combative far-right leaders in the region.

Crime and migration dominate his message.

He has pledged to deport some 330,000 undocumented migrants, blaming them for a surge in organized crime, and to reinforce Chile’s border with Bolivia by building walls, fences and trenches.

“If they don’t leave voluntarily, we will find them,” he said.

Kast points to El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele as his model.

Twice on the trail he spoke from behind bulletproof glass, a move Jara called fear-mongering.

The youngest of 10 children, Kast was born to German parents who emigrated to Chile.

Media investigations revealed that his German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party.

Kast has said his father was a forced conscript in the German army during World War II and denied his father supported the Nazis.

Kast senior later built a successful sausage business.

Kast junior served 16 years in Congress, quit a major right wing party in 2016 over ideological differences and founded the more conservative Republican Party in 2019, which he runs with what insiders describe as tight control.

Revolutionary or reformist? 

Jara, 51, is a rare working-class contender in a political sphere long dominated by elite families.

Raised in northern Santiago, she worked fruit-picking and as a cashier to pay for her studies.

“For the first time... someone from a working-class neighborhood could rise to govern,” she told AFP before the first round.

A Communist Party member since age 14, she belongs to its more liberal wing.

She heads a nine-party center-left alliance and has challenged party orthodoxy, criticizing Cuba and calling Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro a “dictator.”

As labour minister under Gabriel Boric, Jara championed cutting the workweek from 45 to 40 hours, raising the minimum wage and reforming pensions to expand employer contributions.

In 2023, she dismissed a deputy minister over sexual harassment allegations.

In the runoff, she proposes lifting the minimum wage to nearly US$800 a month, strengthening labour rights, boosting lithium production and tackling public safety.

Supporters say her life story helps her connect with voters: “She’s an ordinary person; she knows what ordinary people go through,” said a student at a rally in Valparaiso.

Jara married at 19, was widowed at 21, divorced from a second marriage and has one son.

She holds degrees in public administration and law.

“She understands you must go beyond your own convictions to forge agreements,” said her chief adviser. — AFP