Elections in Chile

Written by: Ute Löhning

Elections are also being held in Chile. Presidential and congressional elections will take place on November 16. Jeannette Jara, the Communist Party (PC) candidate running for a left-wing electoral alliance, could win 30 percent of the vote in the first round, putting her in the lead. However, according to polls, the three candidates from the political right wing have a combined total of around 45 percent of the vote and are expected to pool their votes in a runoff election on December 14. Incidentally, all three are of German descent, as Rafael Alvear reported in an OpenSource article in Berliner Zeitung. It is quite possible that the far-right José Antonio Kast, founder of the Republican Party, will be elected as Chile's next president.

Kast is one of those representatives of the global right who have been meeting regularly for years at international conferences organized by CPAC, PNfV (Political Network for Values, of which Kast was chairman until 2024), and Euro Viva events organized by the Spanish VOX party. Kast had already run in the last election in 2021 – at that time, his advisor on foreign policy issues was Sven von Storch, husband of the AfD deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag. German-Chilean Sven von Storch runs petition and news portals such as “Freie Welt” and “civil petition,” which cooperate with the right-wing lobby group “Zivile Koalition” and launch news and petitions close to the AfD. In early 2025, he told Chilean media outlet Radio Bío-Bío that he had been part of Donald Trump's advisory team for more than seven years. He said he had worked on strategic issues relating to relations between the US, Latin America, and Europe, with Chile's future always playing a role.

The balance of power in Congress after the elections will be decisive. This will determine whether the future Chilean president will be able to pass laws and shape policy or will be thwarted. Gitte Cullmann from the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Torge Löding from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation give their outlook on the election at nd.

Redaction: Ulli Jentsch