"Far-right Republican Party candidate Jose Antonio Kast has won Chile's presidential runoff election, results showed with most of the votes counted. Contender Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party and former labor minister, conceded defeat to her hard-right rival and said that "democracy spoke loud and clear." She went on to say in a post on X that she had spoken to Kast to wish him well."
"With more than 95% of ballots counted, Kast garnered 58% of the vote, while Jara managed 41%, a clear indication she was on course to lose. Leading up to the vote, opinion polls showed Kast leading Jara by a wide margin, with some indicating a lead of more than 10 percentage points. Kast's campaign spokesman, Arturo Squella, declared victory from the party headquarters in the capital of Santiago."
"Sunday's vote marks Kast's third bid for the presidency, with the 59-year-old having campaigned on a tough-on-crime and anti-migrant platform. He pledged to seek unity in what he described as a highly polarized country, saying the winner "will have to be the president of all Chileans." Once viewed as one of the safest and most prosperous countries in Latin America, Chile has been disrupted in recent years by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an increase in organized crime."
Far-right Republican Party candidate Jose Antonio Kast won Chile's presidential runoff with more than 58% of the vote, while Jeannette Jara received about 41%. Jara conceded and said democracy spoke loud and clear, and she reported speaking to Kast to wish him well. With over 95% of ballots counted, opinion polls had shown Kast leading by more than ten percentage points. Kast campaigned on a tough-on-crime and anti-migrant platform and pledged to seek unity in a highly polarized country. Voting was made compulsory for the first time in over a decade, with around 15.8 million eligible voters. The winner will take office in March 2026.
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]