It is almost a foregone conclusion that Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara will top the field in the race today for president of Chile.
That is only part of the story, however.
She almost certainly won’t a majority and will thus compete in a December runoff with one of two decidedly right-of-center candidates: Jose Antonio Kast, traditional Catholic, free marketeer, and unsuccessful candidate against lameduck leftist President Gabriel Boric in 2021; and Congressman Johannes Kaiser, often dubbed the “Ron Paul of Chile” after the libertarian icon and former Texas congressman.
Sources in Chile who spoke to Newsmax agreed Kast and Kaisier would agree to back the second-place finisher in the race Sunday and ensure a transition from left to right that is sweeping Latin America.
Beginning with Javier Milei’s election as president of Argentina in 2023 — the first election of a libertarian as head of state anywhere — right-of-center candidates this year have presidential palaces in Ecuador and Bolivia.
Juan Pablo Chamon, head of the Bolivian classical liberal foundation LIBERA Bolivia, told us: “Each country is reacting to its own form of exhaustion with the progressive agenda rather than following a single regional pattern.
“On Chile specifically, Kast remains the stronger figure. He has a consolidated political project, organizational depth, and a real governing coalition behind him.
“Kaiser is intellectually sharp, but Kast is the only one with the scale, discipline, and structure required to turn ideas into governance. If someone on the right is going to win, Kast is the viable path.”
As for U.S.-Chile relations, Chamon agreed “a change in direction would matter. Boric has taken openly adversarial positions toward Trump-era officials and at times generated friction with U.S. authorities, especially around security, Israel, and broader regional alignments.
“A government led by Kast would restore a more predictable and cooperative relationship with the U.S., both economically and diplomatically.”
“Although Johannes Kaiser has been going up in the latest polls, he will not be able to surpass JA Kast,” Santiago attorney Arturo Alessandri, grand-nephew of the late Chilean President Jorge Alessandri, told us. “So the runoff should include the communist Jara and most probably the right-winger Kast.”
Alessandri also noted that “it is the first time in Chilean history that the next president, all representatives, and half the Senate will be elected by mandatory vote, which adds about 6.4 million new voters. It has been difficult to map and find out how they will vote, which adds some degree of uncertainty, but not relevant enough to change the above-mentioned results.”
Aldo Cassinelli, Chilean author of the prize-winning “A Political System For the Chile That’s Coming,” agreed.
“It’s highly probable that Chile will experience a shift to the right — a trend already seen in Argentina, the political changes in Bolivia, and now consolidating in Chile,” Cassinelli told Newsmax, “In addition, the right is expected to secure a majority in Congress, both in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, where representatives of the two right-wing coalitions will likely form a governing majority.
“As you can see, both right-wing candidates are poised to outperform the left in Chile; therefore, the next government will almost certainly mark a change in political direction.”
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