Candidates go through to Chilean run-off

LEFTIST candidate Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast will go head-to-head in Chile's presidential runoff after topping the weekend’s first round of voting in an election dominated by fears of violent crime.

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With 99% of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, won 26.85%, compared to 23.93% for Kast, the Servel electoral service said.

The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs.

Kast, 59, has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile's border with Bolivia to keep out migrants from poorer countries to the north, such as Venezuela.

After Sunday’s results came in, he vowed to “rebuild” Chile after four years of centre-left rule, which he termed “maybe the worst government in Chile's democratic history?

“Chile woke up tonight,” the straight-laced, ultraconservative father of nine declared, adding that while he was perhaps “not the most likeable?’ he felt he had a mandate from 1 million Chilean voters.