Right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast leads for first time in Chile’s presidential election

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Republican Party candidate José Antonio Kast leads a poll ahead of Chile’s November presidential election for the first time.

The poll, conducted weekly by Plaza Pública Cadem, sees Frente Amplio and Communist Party candidate Gabriel Boric in second place, who would face the other candidate in a second round.

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The poll refers to the third week of October and sees the Christian Social Front in the first place. In response to the question, “If presidential elections were next Sunday, for which of the following candidates would you vote?” the Republican Party candidate received 21% of the vote. In comparison, his main rival from the Apruebo Dignidad party received 20%, which Cadem considers a technical tie.

The data shows that the candidate of the Right gained 3 points compared to the last poll, while the leftist candidate of Apruebo Dignidad lost one point.

However, the poll also says that Gabriel Boric would prevail over the rest of the candidates in a possible second round, with a 4-point lead over Yasna Provoste (39% vs. 35%), with 6 points over Gabriel Sichel (41% vs. 35%) and with 8 points over Jose Antonio Kast (43% vs. 35%).

In third place in presidential preferences is Yasna Provoste, with 12%, followed by Sebastián Sichel, with 7% of intentions, who fell back again in importance, with a drop of 17 points since July 30.

Franco Parisi (6%), Marco Enríquez-Ominami (4%) and Eduardo Artés (3%) follow in the other places. The remaining 27% of respondents do not know, do not answer, or would not vote.

The Frente Amplio candidate received 36% of the vote, with José Antonio Kast in second place with 20% and the New Social Pact candidate in third place with 16%.

The opinion poll also showed that José Antonio Kast was the best-rated candidate after the last televised debate, with 32% of the vote.

In second place was the opposition deputy with 17% of preferences and the president of the Senate with 15%. Sickle (4%) and Artés (2%), on the other hand, performed the worst, according to the Cadem survey.

The polls were widely questioned after they failed in the predictions of the last presidential election in Chile, when the CEP and Cadem polls showed Piñera as the winner by a large majority, even though the election was very close against candidate Beatriz Sánchez.

In addition, the same survey showed candidates Daniel Jadue (Apruebo Dignidad) and Joaquín Lavín (Chile Vamos) as winners of the July 18 presidential primaries, but both lost to their opponents.