Chile Swerves Right in Sunday’s Election: Wins Historic Majority in Parliament
Description
Chile joins Bolivia in making a pivot away from leftist government.
Argentina, as well, has recently re-affirmed their embrace of free market economics with Milei in their recent midterm victory.
Wall Street Journal: Chileans rallied behind hard-line conservatives in elections Sunday as rising anger over crime and immigration pushes the mineral-rich country to the right, setting the stage for a possible alignment with President Trump. In the first round of a presidential vote, some 70% of voters backed the four leading right-wing candidates. José Antonio Kast, a 59-year-old ultraconservative former congressman, secured 24% of the vote, earning a spot in the Dec. 14 runoff vote (Wall Street Journal).
Reuters: “Chile’s traditional parties are in crisis,” said Guillermo Holzmann, a political analyst from the University of Valparaiso. “Their votes have dropped and new leaders have emerged, like Parisi, like Kast.” Kast is favored to beat front-runner Jeannette Jara, the leftist government’s coalition candidate from the Communist Party, in a runoff on December 14 after no candidate reached the majority needed to win the race on Sunday (Reuters).




