Chile: German-born right-wing populist Jose Antonio Kast is ahead in the election

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Jose Antonio Kast

Photo: ELVIS GONZALEZ / EPA

In the presidential election in Chile, the right-wing politician Jose Antonio Kast is in front of the left-wing Gabriel Boric after counting a little over 70 percent of the votes cast.

Kast received around 28 percent and Boric around 25 percent of the vote, as official data showed on Sunday.

If this trend continues, there would be a runoff election on December 19, if neither of the two candidates can get more than 50 percent of the votes in the first ballot.

The election comes after two years of partly violent protests for more social justice.

A successor is now being sought for Sebastián Piñera, whose mandate is expiring.

Like all of Chile, the conservative president was surprised by the outbreak of a social rebellion in October 2019.

He faced the uprising first in disbelief, then helplessly, and sent the paramilitary Carabineros onto the streets to put down the protests.

This has seriously damaged his reputation among the population.

The demonstrations contributed to the fact that the constitution from the era of the dictator Pinochet is currently being revised and spurred the candidacy of Boric, who had a comfortable lead over long distances.

But the increasing crime and political violence had given the German-born Kast a boost.

The representative of the Republican Party got such good poll numbers that he was joined by a number of supporters from the moderate right-wing camp.

Candidate arouses comparison with Trump

The military general Augusto Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected government of the South American country in a bloody coup in 1973.

During his 17-year rule, more than 3,000 people were killed or disappeared and tens of thousands were tortured.

Kast, a 55-year-old Catholic and father of nine children, had praised the neoliberal "economic legacy" of the former dictator.

His frank words, his blanket conservatism and his sometimes idiosyncratic political ideas, such as digging a ditch to contain illegal immigration, have often brought about comparisons with former US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

All 155 seats in the Chilean lower house, 27 of the 50 seats in the country's upper house and all positions in the country's 16 regional councils are also available for election.

jok / Reuters