By Alexander Villegas and Fabian Cambero
SANTIAGO, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Jose Antonio Kast, from the far-right Republican Party that he founded, has taken an early lead against leftist Jeannette Jara in the Chilean presidential election, initial results showed on Sunday.
With 25.37% of votes counted, Kast had secured 59.83%, against Jara’s 40.17%.
Kast had been ahead in opinion polls ahead of the vote, running on a platform of fighting crime and curbing migration.
While Chile remains one of the safest countries in Latin America, a recent surge in organized crime and immigration has rattled the electorate and become the main concern among voters.
Dozens of supporters began to arrive at the Kast campaign headquarters in Santiago on Sunday evening, some wearing red caps emblazoned “Make Chile Great Again.”
A Kast victory is likely to be cheered by investors who are hoping that a market-friendly government will accelerate economic reforms, including deregulation and changes to the copper-rich country’s pension system and capital markets.
As the campaigns had wound down, both candidates threw jabs at each other, but also focused on the main topic that has come to define the election: crime.
Speaking on Thursday from behind a clear protective barrier in the southern city of Temuco, the capital of a region rattled by conflict between Indigenous Mapuche groups and the incumbent leftist government, Kast described a country in chaos and said he would restore order.
“This government caused chaos, this government caused disorder, this government caused insecurity,” the 59-year-old lawyer said. “We’re going to do the opposite. We’re going to create order, security and trust.”
As voters cast their ballots during a chilly, overcast day in Santiago, many mentioned crime as their top concern.
“I lived in Ecuador and I’m a resident here and I don’t want what happened in Ecuador to happen here,” Aldo Zambrano, a 40-year-old teacher from Venezuela, said after voting, referring to a spike in homicides and crime in Ecuador.
During her closing campaign event on Thursday in the northern city of Coquimbo, Jara vowed to be tough on crime, but also touted the need for strong social programs.
“There’s a lot at stake and we have to move forward, not back,” said the 51-year-old lawyer and former minister of labor.
(Reporting by Alexander Villegas and Fabian Cambero in Santiago; Additional reporting by Lucinda Elliott and Reuters TV; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien, Bill Berkrot and Paul Simao)
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