Chile to vote for president

CHILEANS will elect a new president on Sunday, with an arch-conservative who has promised to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants strongly tipped to beat his leftist rival.

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After a campaign dominated by fears over crime and immigration, Jose Antonio Kast, a veteran politician and father of nine, is on course to become Chile's first hard-right leader since the end of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in 1990.

His opponent, Jeannette Jara, a communist who leads the centre-left coalition, won the first round of voting in November.

But she looks set to be punished for the incumbent government's perceived failure to tackle rising crime and a stalled economy.

Before the country was “much safer’, said 50-year-old mining consultant Claudio Benitez.

“The type of crime is different - now your life is in danger,” he said.

Against this fearful backdrop, right-wing candidates collectively garnered more than 50% of the vote in the first round.

Polls predict a thumping Kast victory in the second round.

If those predictions are correct, Chile would become the latest in a string of Latin American nations to swing from left to right, after Argentina, Bolivia and Honduras - often with a nudge from US President Donald Trump.

For decades, Chile was the envy of much of the region for its safe streets, robust economy, vibrant democracy, stable institutions and abundant natural resources.