The right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast, ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro, follows the lead of the Chilean presidential race and consolidates itself as the main name to dispute the succession. According to the latest Citizen Panel research at the University of Development (UDD), held between August 28 and 29, the Republican Party representative appears with 28% of voting intentions – the same index registered in previous surveys.
In second place is the candidate of the situation Jeannette Jara of the Chilean Communist Party, who marked 24%, a point less than in the previous survey. Despite the fall, she still has an advantage over the center-right coalition candidate “Let’s, Chile”, Evelyn Matthei, who appears with 14%. The numbers reinforce the advance of the right in Chile and the fragility of the candidate supported by the left government of Gabriel Boric, who has been facing strong rejection.
According to the survey, economist Franco Parisi adds 10%, followed by Johannes Kaiser, with 7%. Already Marco Embria-Imami and Harold Mayne-Nicholls have 2% each, while Eduardo Artés does not exceed 0%. The undecided group reaches 8%, and 5% said they would not vote or nullify the vote.
The survey shows that Kast not only leads in the first round, but would also win with time off in a possible second round. Against Jara, the Republican would have 46%, while the communist candidate would be 31%. Evelyn Matthei would also defeat the governor by 45% to 29%.
The survey has an error margin of 3 percentage points and 91%response rate.
Close to the Bolsonaro family
Kast is a long ally of the Bolsonaro family date, having participated in meetings with both the former president and his son, Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, with whom he has starred in the conservative agenda in which the hashtag of disclosure #kastconbolsonaro was used.
In 2021, during the Chilean presidential election, Kast received public support from Eduardo, which was returned the following year, amid the Brazilian presidential campaign, when the Chilean rightist declared support for the former president’s reelection, stating that Brazil “played for freedom” against the radical left.
With information from CNN Chile.
