#compulsory-voting

#compulsory-voting

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.

Ahead of the vote, opinion polls showed Kast leading Jara by a wide margin, with some indicating a lead of more than 10 percentage points. For the first time in over a decade, voting has been made compulsory, with around 15.8 million people eligible to cast ballots. Initial results are expected in the early hours of Monday and the election winner will take office in March 2026.

Voters hate rorts, and politicians love to accuse each other of rorting. Election rorts are when the parties distribute taxpayer dollars unfairly to boost their chances of winning votes.