The united left’s candidate, Jeannette Jara, from the Communist Party, came out on top in the first round, but without a clear majority. The Communist label still has a scarecrow effect in Chile: she had no chance of winning, despite her overtures to the populist candidate who arrived third, Franco Parisi.

Kast promises an iron fist on immigration and security issues. Emboldened by the behavior of Trump and Millei, he has promised to deploy the army to the borders to combat illegal immigration, to carry out mass expulsions of undocumented Venezuelans and Colombians, and to build more prisons, following the example of Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador.