Bombay Durpun - Chile far right eyes comeback as presidential vote opens

Polls show far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast as the strong front-runner in the runoff vote against his rival Jeannette Jara, a longstanding member of the Communist Party.

Almost 16 million citizens can cast their ballot in the election, with Kast's tough-on-crime and anti-migrant message seemingly resonating with many Chileans.

"The country is falling apart," 59-year-old Kast has claimed on the campaign trail, often speaking from behind bulletproof glass to underscore his point.

Once one of the safest and most prosperous countries in the Americas, Chile has been hit hard in recent years by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an influx of foreign organized crime.

Kast is far to the right of most Chileans on many issues.

But citizens fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule say they will vote for change, despite misgivings.

Kast has vowed to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants, opposed abortion without exceptions, and voiced support for the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

Security is the priority for 44-year-old Santiago housewife Ursula Villalobos, who plans to vote for Kast and is willing to accept some radical changes if they bring safety.

"What's important," she told AFP, "is that people can leave their homes without fear and return at night without worrying that something will happen to them on street corners.

"Given the extreme situation we're in right now, if we have to take somewhat extreme measures at the beginning to achieve a peaceful country later on, then yes, I would be willing to do that."

Polls show more than 60 percent of Chileans think security is the top issue facing the country -- far eclipsing the economy, healthcare or education.

And while statistics show that violent crime -- fueled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadoran gangs -- has risen in the last 10 years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

- 'Pinochet out of uniform' -

But Kast's hardline positions have also brought fears that he will edge Chile back toward the bad old days of a dictatorship that killed or disappeared more than 3,000 of its own citizens and tortured many thousands more.

"I'm fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression," said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, who said that "under no circumstances" would she vote for Kast.

"The candidate of the right reminds me a lot of the dictatorship. I lived through the dictatorship. I was young, but I lived through it, suffered through it.

"I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform," she said, comparing Kast to a man who for decades was the medal-festooned caricature of a Latin American military dictator.

Pinochet left power in 1990, after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum.

As a university student, Kast campaigned for the pro-Pinochet vote.

His family background has also raised questions. Media investigations have revealed that Kast's German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.

Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.

- Incumbent blues -

Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered 70 percent of the vote.

In a head-to-head race between Kast and Jara, polls show him winning by more than 10 percentage points.

The 39-year-old president's four-year term has been crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.

Being tied to the ruling party is almost a kiss of death in Chilean politics.

Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left- and right-wing governments at every presidential election.

At this election, voting is compulsory for the first time in more than a decade.

F.Varghese--BD