Before the polls were banned (Chilean law prohibits the publication of polls in the 15 days before an election), communist extremist Janet Jara (Santiago, 51), the presidential candidate of the Left Bloc and the Christian Democratic Party, had an average approval rating of 28%. This figure is roughly similar to President Gabriel Bolic’s near-incorrigible approval rating, which typically fluctuates between 28% and 30% (the worst was 22% and the best was 35%). However, it is still far from the 38% approval rating given by the left to the failed proposal for a new constitution promoted by the left in the September 2022 referendum.
According to the Purso Ciudadano poll by Activa Research, released a month before this Sunday’s elections, 78.3% of Chileans who support Jara approve of Bolić’s government. 62.6% of its supporters identify as center-left, and 22.7% define themselves as having no political position.
The 51-year-old public administrator, lawyer and master’s degree in public management ranks first in opinion polls. However, it is almost certain that he will advance to the second round, most likely against José Antonio Casto, a radical and conservative right-wing Republican. Part of Ultra’s campaign is to portray her relationship with Bolić in a negative light, as she was the Minister of Labor. “Hala is Bolić and Bolić is Hara. Nothing she says or does can change that. She is the successor to a failed government,” he said this Tuesday afternoon, before supporters attending the end of his campaign at Movistar Arena. Mr. Jara, who was also taking part in the same activities, stressed to supporters in Plaza de Maipu, “Chile is not collapsing. It is a great country.”
Mr. Jara headed Boric’s labor portfolio from March 2022 to April 2025, when he resigned to begin his path to La Moneda. In his service, he led efforts to benefit the most vulnerable Chileans, as demonstrated in today’s campaign. These include a historic increase in the minimum wage to 500,000 Chilean pesos (just over $500) and pension reform. It also enacted a law that reduced working hours to 40 hours a week.
Today, Jara speaks precisely to the majority of Chileans, proposing public health reform, expanding universal childcare, and the right to decent housing. He reiterated that his programs and speeches focus on people who wake up at 6 a.m. every day and take the bus to work. “I will make it possible for every Chilean family to live in peace. That is my promise and my seal. Dignity, decent work and good pay – that’s why we promote a living wage,” he said in Maipu on Tuesday.
A week ago, the candidate said on social networks that he asked his followers if they remembered his starting salary. “Many of the answers were the same: We don’t have enough money and it’s hard to make ends meet.” He then reiterated his campaign promise that workers’ critical income would reach 750,000 pesos (about $795).
His personal story is key to identifying voters in this article. He grew up in the town of El Cortijo, in the city of Conchari, north of Santiago. She lived in poverty with her parents, a housewife and an auto mechanic, and her four siblings. Even from relatives in relatives’ homes. She recalled this week at the campaign close on Tuesday. “I never imagined that I would become a candidate for president of the Republic. Not because I thought it was impossible for me, but because it was rare for someone from El Cortijo to open the door to the Government House.”
But also, like all candidates, security, economic growth and curbing irregular immigration are among his priorities. “We don’t want hatred or discrimination. We don’t want families’ legitimate fear of being assaulted to be used as a campaign tool,” he said. He added that “neighborhood security will be strengthened in my government” and “a precautionary approach will also be taken.” He also proposes lifting bank secrecy so prosecutors can trace the flow of organized crime funds.
This candidate faces a big challenge. The goal is to seek new support to help right-wing candidates win the run-off election on December 14th. However, the situation is complex. According to the latest survey by the Center for Public Research (CEP), 24% of Chileans now identify as right-wing, the highest level ever. 36% in the center, 20% on the left.
This election also has some peculiarities that make the scenario uncertain, especially for the left. For example, this is the first presidential election to be held with compulsory voting and automatic registration, which means there will be approximately 5 million new voters.
It is also the first time since the return to democracy in 1990 that the left will face off against three competing rightists: two radicals, Kast and the liberal Johannes Kaiser, and another traditional rightist, Evelyn Mattei. But there is another peculiarity. Hara is supported by nine political parties, but his communist militancy, a Marxist-Leninist community that believes in the dictatorship of the proletariat, poses a political dilemma among some moderate centre-leftists. Most support it, but some do not dare to take the step. This is despite the fact that his program supports the sector’s values such as a “just society” and support for individual freedom. He said that once he arrived in La Moneda, he would support the Bolici government’s Abortion Without a Cause project.
In the 35 years leading up to Jarrah, the Communist Party (PC) had not won a competitive presidential option. But, strangely enough, it’s the PC that has produced the best of them. noise And at various times during the campaign, he expressed discomfort with his candidacy. And that fact is also part of the political dilemma for some Chileans, including Boric’s former finance minister, Mario Marcel. Although he plans to vote for her “because I know her as a person and have had to work with her,” he told the paper, “I do have one concern, and that is the role of the PC in his eventual government.” Another voice reflecting the situation is that of Ernesto Ottone, a political science doctorate, center-left essayist, and chief of staff to socialist President Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006): “You cannot be a communist and still be a democrat.”
But beyond ideology, it was Hara who caused the big surprise at the end of June, winning the ruling party’s primary by a landslide, winning by 60 percentage points over the Social Democratic Party’s Carolina Toha. Currently, the Toha division is supporting it.
Candidates claim they represent a broad bloc; It gave him a signal to appeal to centrist and non-ideological voters, but he will need that more than anything else in the final runoff. She announced that she would step away from combat activities if elected.
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