Jara advances to Chilean runoff as campaign enters new phase: Video
Jeannette Jara, the presidential candidate of the ruling Unidad por Chile coalition, celebrated securing a place in Chile’s runoff election on Sunday, even as final vote totals had yet to confirm whether she finished ahead of her right-wing rival, José Antonio Kast.
Speaking to supporters gathered in Santiago’s Plaza San Francisco, Jara thanked those who backed her campaign and said the first-round result showed a clear appetite for a fairer and more inclusive country.
Jara emphasised that nearly half the electorate had cast a ballot for neither of the two leading candidates. She pledged to spend the coming days “listening carefully” to those voters and bringing a broader spectrum of Chileans into her proposals for the second round.
The candidate also sharpened her contrast with Kast, delivering one of her strongest criticisms of the Republican leader to date. “I regret that in the 16 years Kast served as a deputy, no one can recall a single law or agreement he passed for the good of the country. That is the reality, that is the reality,” she said. She added that her campaign would work to ensure Chileans understood “the differences between what it means for Chile’s future to be led by the far-right versus by progressivism”, arguing that the latter had historically secured advances in social, political and economic rights.
Electoral authorities will publish detailed results in the coming days, including regional and municipal breakdowns, as part of efforts to guarantee transparency. With no candidate surpassing the required 50 per cent threshold, the race will now move to a decisive runoff scheduled for 14 December.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
