Briefing - Chile ahead of the 2025 elections: Will the political pendulum swing from the left to the far right? - 29-10-2025
Chile will hold presidential and congressional elections on 16 November 2025, with a possible runoff between the two best placed presidential candidates on 14 December, if no candidate secures the absolute majority in the first round. The two most promising candidates according to the latest polls are Jeannette Jara, from the Communist Party, and far-right candidate José Antonio Kast from the Republican Party. Crime and immigration are among the top issues that dominate the election campaign, even though Chile remains one of the safest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Since the Estallido Social, the 2019 2020 social uprising, which brought left-wing incumbent Gabriel Boric to the presidency in 2022, there has been a trend of polarisation in Chilean politics. The 2021 elections resulted in a highly fragmented and diverse Congress with no coalition winning a clear majority of seats. From the EU perspective, in particular because of its rich natural resources and critical raw materials, Chile will be of strategic importance in the years to come. The recently signed Advanced Framework Agreement (AFA) between the EU and Chile (provisional application as from 1 June 2025), including the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA), which entered into force on 1 February 2025, are important instruments to realise the potential of the EU-Chile partnership.
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP