Chilean leftist presidential candidate Jeannette Jara. Photo: EFE/file photo.
This Sunday, June 29, Communist Party of Chile candidate Jeannette Jara won the ruling coalition’s primary elections by a wide margin over the other three candidates. Therefore, she will advance to the presidential elections in November to face right-wing and far-right candidates.
According to the latest official report published by the Chilean Electoral Service, Jara obtained 60.31% of the votes after 98.27% of the polling stations were counted, in an election marked by notably low turnout.
The other candidates’ results were significantly lower than Jara’s. Carolina Tohá came in second with 27.91% of the vote, while Gonzalo Winter obtained 9.02%, and Jaime Mulet only 2.76%.
Jara’s victory made her the candidate of the Communist and Humanist Action parties, which supported her in the primary elections. She will also represent the rest of the left-wing alliances: Broad Front, Green and Social Regionalist Front, Socialist Party, Party for Democracy, Radical Party, and Liberal Party.
She is a close ally of Daniel Jadue, an influential communist leader subjected to legal persecution—lawfare—for his criticism of Gabriel Boric’s presidency.
The extremely low turnout is evident in the 1,344,255 votes with 98.27% of the tables counted in an election for which around 15 million Chileans were eligible to vote, including some 40,000 abroad.
Polling stations were set up in approximately 60 countries. According to one of the latest reports, of the 16,600 polling stations set up both domestically and abroad, 16,353 were installed, which is equivalent to 98.51% of the total planned.
Jara is a communist activist and former minister of labor in Gabriel Boric’s government (2022-2023). Her popularity has risen after promoting labor reforms and defending workers’ rights, which earned her voters from progressive sectors.
She has played a prominent role in the country’s labor movement, representing the demands for social change that emerged during the 2019 social uprising, focusing her attention on social justice policies, labor rights, and gender equality.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
