By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

SANTIAGO, (Reuters) – The lead of Chilean leftist Gabriel Boric in final polls has widened ahead Of Sunday’s Andean country presidential election. However, the polarized race against his ultra-conservative opponent Jose Antonio Kast remains close.

Two private polls viewed by Reuters show that Boric, a former student protest leader, is now leading Kast (55), a far-right attorney who defends the legacy of Augusto Pinochet.

Chile is the top producing country in the world and has been a model for market-oriented Latin American economic policy. It will be holding its most divisive election in years, featuring two candidates outside of the mainstream centrist parties.

Cadem conducted a private poll and surveyed 1,007 voters. The margin of error was 3.1%. Boric took 55% of the votes to Kast’s 55%. His lead has widened since last week, when another poll had him at 52% to Kast’s 48%.

Consultancy firm Atlas (NYSE 🙂 Intel (NASDAQ :), who had previously shown a draw in the week’s poll, now has Boric ahead with 51% preferred voting preferences against 49% for Kast. With a margin error of 1%, the survey asked 4,062 respondents.

The country is currently in a 2-week blackout, where pollsters can’t openly publish polls on the vote. However, private polls are frequently commissioned.

Boric had been favored in initial opinion polls, even though it had seemed to be shrinking before the latest surveys.