Chile Votes Today As Security Concerns Eclipse A Decade Of Big Promises
Key Points
* Chileans are voting today, December 14, in a runoff to succeed Gabriel Boric.
* The last polls released before the blackout showed José Antonio Kast leading Jeannette Jara.
* Two failed constitutional rewrite efforts helped shift the country toward “order first.”
Chileans are voting today in an election that will shape the next government when the winner takes office on March 11, 2026.
The finalists are José Antonio Kast, founder of the Republican Party, and Jeannette Jara, a former labor minister backed by Boric’s governing alliance.
The first round on November 16 exposed a fragmented electorate. Jara led with about 26.8% of valid votes, while Kast followed with roughly 23.9%, forcing both to fight for the middle.
Because Chile restricts publication of vote-intention polling close to election day, the last widely circulated numbers are from late November.
An AtlasIntel survey for Bloomberg conducted November 22–27, with 9,012 respondents and a ±1 percentage point margin of error, showed Kast with a large lead.
The story behind today’s vote begins with a broken promise. After the 2019 unrest, Boric championed a new constitution to replace the Pinochet-era text.
Chileans rejected two different draft charters in national plebiscites. The defeats left many voters skeptical of sweeping institutional projects and hungry for practical gains. With growth steady but modest, frustration has lingered.
Chile Votes Today As Security Concerns Eclipse A Decade Of Big Promises
Security filled that vacuum. Concern about organized crime, street violence, and irregular migration has moved to the center of politics.
Kast’s platform is the most blunt: tougher policing, tighter borders, and expanded prison capacity, plus a more predictable, lower-tax environment for business.
Jara argues for a stronger social floor while promising a tougher state. She highlights the shift from a 45-hour to a 40-hour workweek and proposes a 750,000-peso monthly minimum wage.
She also calls for tougher anti-evasion enforcement, a national lithium company, and expanded financial probes, including bank-secrecy waivers.
Mandatory voting adds unpredictability. For expats and foreign firms, the question after today is whether Chile can improve safety and restore policy clarity that people can plan around, without reopening another constitutional fight.