Natalia A. Ramos Miranda, Gram Slattery

SANTIAGO, Reuters – Chileans vote Sunday in the most divisive election since 1990’s return to democracy. An ultra-right-leaning ex-congressman will be fighting it out against a leftist who supports massive street protests.

Jose Antonio Kast (55-year-old Catholic father of nine), is on the right. He has promised to clamp down on criminality and has also praised Augusto Pinochet’s neoliberal economic legacy.

His frank talk, across-the-board conservatism and sometimes-idiosyncratic policy ideas, like building a ditch to curb illegal immigration, have drawn frequent comparisons https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-bolsonaro-hard-right-kast-rises-with-frank-talk-crime-focus-2021-11-16 with former U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.

On the Left, lawmaker Gabriel Boric, 35, who led student protests in 2011 demanding improvements to Chile’s educational system, has pledged to scrap the nation’s laissez-faire economic model https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/former-protest-leader-boric-seeks-bury-chiles-neoliberal-past-2021-11-17, while strengthening environmental protections and indigenous rights. Broadly speaking, he represents a significant rupture https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chile-was-regional-role-model-now-voters-want-change-2021-11-18 from the conservative to centrist politics that have dominated Chilean politics for decades.

Sandra Astorga (55) a Santiago-based housewife and voter for Boric, stated that he is young because it’s better to let space in the future generations.

The election comes after two years of dramatic https://graphics.reuters.com/CHILE-PROTESTS/0100B32527X/index.html, sometimes-violent https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests-idUSKBN1X81N4 street protests by Chileans demanding quality-of-life improvements. These demonstrations were a major factor in Boric’s candidacy, which was for most of the race in a commanding lead.

But increasing fatigue among Chileans fed up with political violence, combined a with a widespread perception that crime is on the rise, has boosted Kast https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/burning-metro-chile-election-divides-voters-between-protest-order-2021-11-20.

Gloria Reyes Flores 66, who is a widower living in Las Condes’ upscale Santiago neighborhood, said that he would defeat drug trafficking. “He is also going to regulate immigration, as there are many people who want to harm Chile.

Most polls have Kast winning the most votes on Sunday by a few percentage points, while a likely runoff in December would be extremely competitive https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chile-conservative-kast-maintains-lead-final-pre-election-opinion-polls-2021-11-06.

The performance of moderate candidates will prove to be a wildcard. The polls show that center-right Sebastian Sichel, and left-leaning Yasna provoste are both between 10% and 15%. This is at least 10 percentage point less than Kast or Boric. The pollsters warn that surprise may still occur because millions of people remain undecided.

Barring any surprise, Kast and Boric will be scrambling to pick up Sichel and Provoste voters in the potential second round, scheduled for Dec. 19, making the more moderate contenders potential kingmakers https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-centrists-overshadowed-election-could-yet-play-kingmaker-2021-11-19.

Kenneth Bunker of Tresquintos political consulting director, stated that if one of the leading candidates wins 2 million votes it can be an indicator of their ability to expand enough to win in the second round.

The polls are open at 8:30 a.m. (11100 GMT) & close at 6:05 p.m. Soon thereafter, results will be available.

All 155 Chilean seats are up for grabs, as well as 27 out of 50 Chilean upper houses seats and positions in all 16 national regional councils.