Kast, Boric Set To Face Off In Second Round Of Polarised Presidential Election

With nearly 66% of votes already in, early results of the first round of Chile's presidential election show far-right former lawmaker José Antonio Kast (28%) with a lead over his closest rival Gabriel Boric (25%), a left-wing former student activist. None of them appears to be close to securing a 50% majority, which means that they will face off in the second round on December 19.

• Kast and Boric consistently outperformed other contenders in pre-election polling after the former's campaign picked up momentum over the last couple of months. Kast openly praises the neo-liberal legacy of Chile's dictator Augusto Pinochet and is known for advocating controversial ideas, which have long kept him outside of mainstream politics. Conversely, Boric has emerged from a student protest movements and advocates more progressive taxation, larger public spending and ditching Chile's private pension system.
• Centrist candidates promising a degree of continuity expectedly lag behind. Liberal economist Franco Parisi is third with nearly 14% of the vote, despite living abroad and not visiting Chile during the campaign period.
• Centre-left Yasna Provoste is fourth with around 12%, narrowly outperforming centre-right Sebastián Sichel. Provoste commented that Kast "represents a fascist spirit" and congratulated Boric for his performance, noting that "it will be important to listen to what [Boric] will propose for the country."
• Sichel conceded defeat after early count showed he ranked fifth in the first round. The former official in Sebastián Piñera's administration was a serious contender in the early phase of presidential campaign. He told the media that he was "not going to vote for Gabriel Boric's candidacy," as he didn't "want the extreme left to win in Chile." He was willing to talk with Kast, albeit the two have "programmatic differences," and will communicate his decision later.