Jeannette Jara: the official candidate’s presidential race

The ultra Kast starts ahead of the libertarian Kaiser and the representative of the traditional right Matthei to go to the round of 16 this Sunday

The candidate of the left bloc gathered around 20,000 people in Plaza de Maipú. “I don’t hide behind any glass, because I’m not afraid of the Chilean people,” he said, referring to Kast

The left-wing presidential candidate stresses that to “save problems, it is very likely” that she will leave her membership in the Communist Party (PC), a party of which she has been a member for 37 of her 51 years.

The communist militant obtains on average in the polls, according to Electoral Radar, 28.56% of the vote, 8% more than the far-right conservative. But the standard-bearer is still far from the 38% support that the Chilean left gave in the plebiscite of September 4, 2022.

In the countdown to Chile’s presidential election, a mistake in taking the SIMCE test – which measures the quality of education nationwide – has left the Ministry of Education, led by communist militant Nicolás Cataldo, the government itself and the ruling party’s sole candidate, Jeannette Jara, at the center of criticism.

Jara faces three opposition candidates in the race for La Moneda, who between them far surpass her: Kast is at 25%; Evelyn Matthei, of the traditional right, at 17% and Johannes Kaiser, of the far-right National Libertarian Party, at 10%

Despite the good results that the presidential candidate of the Chilean center-left bloc has obtained so far in the polls, it is the leadership of the Communist Party (PC), her own community, that has repeatedly opened up complex flanks both in her electoral campaign and within the coalition of left-wing parties that support her.

At the end of the officialization of the candidacies for the Chilean presidential elections in November, the Republican standard-bearer criticizes the representative of the left bloc, with whom he contests first place in the polls

The center-left political science doctor and essayist analyzes the presidential race undertaken by the left-wing candidate, who seeks to expand her consensus towards the center

During the election campaign, the Communist Party deputy highlighted her humble origins to differentiate herself from her competitors. EL PAÍS reconstructs his childhood and adolescence in the popular municipality north of Santiago

The main challenge for the winner of the left primaries, Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party since adolescence, is to mobilize the bases of her sector, from the hardest wing to the center.

Jara obtained 60% of the preferences (825,456 votes), more than double the 28% (385,379 votes) of Carolina Tohá, of the PPD, former Interior Minister and candidate of the moderate left conglomerate Democratic Socialism. Much further behind is MP Gonzalo Winter, from the Frente Amplio (FA), Boric’s party, with 9% (123,829 votes).

“We have the opportunity to enchant the citizens again,” Jara said on stage, together with the social democrat Carolina Tohá and Gonzalo Winter, of the Frente Amplio (FA), who lost the elections and whom he thanked for being there.

Boric’s former Labor Minister was elected at the end of June, with 60% of the votes, in the governing party’s primaries, as the only standard-bearer of the left to compete in November’s presidential elections against a strong right.

During his administration, Jara was the face of negotiations for one of the main projects of the Gabriel Boric administration to see the light, after several concessions to the opposition. Her ability to reach agreements, high knowledge rate (77%, third of the entire Cabinet) and what many on the left see as empathetic leadership have made her a favorite to represent the Communist Party (PC) in the ruling party’s presidential primaries.

Boric government’s Labor Minister says private insurers of pension funds misinform the population with “fake news” to maintain their juicy profits and not change the system