San Francisco Frontiers - Leftist leads Chile presidential poll, faces run-off against far right

With 52.39 percent of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, was on 26.58 percent, compared to 24.32 percent for Kast, the Servel electoral service said.

The next closest candidate, ultra-right MP Johannes Kaiser, conceded defeat.

The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs.

Kast has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile's border with Bolivia to keep out migrants from poorer countries to the north, such as Venezuela.

Jara has promised to hire more police, lift banking secrecy to tackle organized crime and tackle cost-of-living issues.

She faces an uphill battle to convert her first-round lead into victory in the December 14 run-off, with the sum of the votes of candidates on the right far exceeding those on the left.

Polls have persistently shown Kast handily beating her in a run-off.

Jara's score fell below pollsters predictions while Kast exceeded expectations.

She had been tipped to garner 27-29 percent of votes, compared with 20-22 percent for Kast, an ultraconservative father of nine.

Chileans also voted for members of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.

- 'Iron fist' sought -

Chile is one of Latin America's safest countries, but the murder rate has doubled in a decade to exceed that of the United States.

The crime surge has happened in tandem with a doubling of the immigrant population since 2017, now comprising 8.8 percent of the population.

Wall-to-wall news coverage of crime has led to a clamor for a "mano dura" (iron fist).

"I hope that some day we'll go back to the way we were before," Mario Faundez, an 87-year-old retired salesman, who voted in the wealthy Santiago district of Providencia, told AFP.

"If we have to kill (criminals), so be it," he added.

The vote is seen as a litmus test for South America's left, which has been sent packing in Argentina and Bolivia, and faces a stiff challenge in Colombian and Brazilian elections next year.

Conservative ex-minister Evelyn Matthei, the 72-year-old establishment choice, conceded after results showed her trailing in fifth place.

The ultraconservative Kast would be the first far-right leader since the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet if elected.

He has defended Pinochet, whose regime killed thousands of dissidents under the pretext of fighting communism during the Cold War.

Patricia Orellana, a 56-year-old Jara voter, said she feared a "rollback of many gains for women" if Kast won.

H.Davis--SFF