Voters face seemingly extreme choice between communist and rightwing frontrunners, who both promise to fight foreign gangs
Chileans began voting for a new president and parliament on Sunday, in a contest expected to favour the hard right as candidates play on popular fears over organised crime and immigration.
It is the first of an expected two rounds of presidential elections, as polls show none of the candidates clearing the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff scheduled for 14 December.
On the surface, Sunday’s election offers Chileans a dramatic choice between two extremes: Jeannette Jara, 51, a card-carrying communist and former labour minister in the leftwing government, and, among other rightwing contenders, José Antonio Kast, 59, an ultraconservative lawyer and former lawmaker who opposes abortion and vows to shrink the state.
But with voters anxious about a rise in gang-driven crime that they blame on a recent surge of illegal immigration from crisis-stricken Venezuela, the campaign has steered the starkly opposed frontrunners toward the shared theme of public insecurity.
