Campaign themes
Security
Insecurity is, for 48% of Chileans, Chile’s main problem, so it is not surprising that security was one of the most important themes in this campaign. All candidates promised basically the same: to reinforce the police and build new prisons.
Jara promises an investment of 700 million and the end of banking secrecy, to follow the money trail of transnational organized crime. Kast, on the other hand, wants tougher sentences and Matthei to have a greater police presence on the streets. Kaiser wants the return of mandatory military service, in addition to being in favor of the return of the death penalty.
Last year, according to data cited by the Associated Press agency, 40% of homes were attacked and almost 30% of Chileans have been victims of some type of crime, generating a greater feeling of insecurity.
With six homicides per hundred thousand inhabitants in 2023 (a number that has almost tripled in the last decade), Chile continues to be one of the safest countries in Latin America (where the average is 15 per hundred thousand). However, there has been an increase in cases of kidnapping, extortion or contract killings, as well as simple cell phone thefts, linked to transnational organized crime – the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua is already operating in the country, for example.
Immigration
Following the insecurity, associated with transnational criminal groups, came the debate on immigration that right-wing candidates took advantage of during the campaign.
Matthei advocates criminalizing illegal entry into the country and wants to create a Military Border Police. Kast wants to increase repatriation flights for illegal immigrants, while Kaiser is betting on the massive expulsion of irregular foreigners (first placing them in a refugee camp to confine them until they are deported). Jara wants a mandatory census to count the number of foreigners, but is betting on labor integration programs.
According to existing data, the number of migrants doubled in seven years (especially due to the increase in the arrival of Venezuelans, who were fleeing the crisis in their country), representing 8.8% of the total population in 2024. There are 1.6 million people born abroad who live in Chile, a country with 20 million inhabitants.
Economy:
The economic recovery after the social upheavals of 2019 and especially the covid-19 pandemic was not as fast as desired, despite the macroeconomic data being positive when compared to the rest of the region.
Communist Jara defends the continuity of Boric’s economic police, with an increase in the minimum wage and more rights for workers.
On the right, the common idea is a tax cut. Kast wants a radical tax reduction of six billion dollars within 18 months, without having exactly explained how this will happen – despite having talked, for example, about eliminating the real estate tax.
Matthei proposes reducing eight billion dollars, but during the four-year term, for example lowering taxes for companies from 27% to 23%. Kaiser goes further and talks about 20%, defending reducing the role of the State in the Economy.
Candidates: between the communist and Pinochet’s “heirs”
There are eight candidates for the presidential elections, and only four seem likely to be among the two that go to the second round.